The Vampire Diaries: Seal It With A Bite
by Acrobat Dances a Playful Tune
Summary: An evil is coming to Mystic Falls, an evil that Bonnie's ancestors predicted, an evil that Tyler's ancestors feared as their greatest enemy, an evil Alaric knows only from legend - an evil that only the Salvatore's have ever encountered...
1. Chapter 1

**The Vampire Diaries: **_Seal It With A Bite_

. . .

A bird. A black bird. Long beautiful feathers but dark somehow, dark beyond the fringe of beauty, bordering upon abyss, upon the fringe of evil – not quite sinister, perhaps the trapping off it – the feathers are a deception. The bird is a raven, the sign of a trickster, it is designed to mislead you…what is it hiding, what lies behind the bird's wing: what is being obscured. The wing lowers and reveals…darkness, a great tempest upon the horizon, the clouds are circling and menacing, and then lighting strikes across the sky.

Bonnie screamed as she was wrenched from sleep, sitting upright in bed and looking around her room – she hadn't left the Grimoire open…not to her knowledge anyway, but it was open. She gently slid of the bed and walked toward the desk, she went to touch the Grimoire but it shut, without her having even touched the cover of the book. She turned around and there it was again…like in her dream except this time she was conscious. Emily sat in the chair by her desk, dressed in the same bonnet and dress she always was, staring out of the window, past Bonnie toward the streetlamp lit street. Bonnie folded her arms to look at her ancestor, "Am I still dreaming or…is this a vision?"

Emily looked at her, her head was inclined at a strange angle on her neck and her eyes seemed wild, as though she was thinking a thousand possibilities all at once, as though she was pondering how best to play with Bonnie like a toy. Emily was clearly a superior Witch, she'd been crossing the barrier between the Spirit World and that of the humans for years now…such power intimidated Bonnie, even if she had absorbed the power of the Witches she was still inexperienced and relatively naïve for a witch, she still had much to learn, too much.

"Somewhere between the two," Emily said cryptically, standing up and crossing the room to stand next to Bonnie, "I am merely foreshadowing events." One of the candles on the desk flickered feebly into life and beside it appeared a single black feather, Emily lifted it from the desk and levitated it in mid-air, spinning it around slowly while she and Bonnie both focused upon it, Bonnie somehow felt like it was a trance. "Beware Bonnie Bennett, something is coming that is more powerful than you are I, something I daresay is more powerful than all the Bennett Witches put together."

The lighting cracked again and Bonnie was awake, her head on its side on the pillow – she shivered a little…what had that been? _What did it mean? _She rolled onto her back and scanned the room, propping herself up on her elbows…she was alone and the Grimoire was closed on the desk…like it had been before. She had seen Emily a few times, though that interaction had been longer than any of the others…though at first it had seemed as if Emily was haunting her Bonnie had gradually changed her view to believing that Emily was trying to warn her.

About what she didn't know, the image was always the same, a darkness on the horizon and the Raven – it was some kind of imagery, the Raven represented the trickster and represented someone trying to deceive her, the person would deceive her about the darkness that was coming…although she didn't know whether that darkness was a someone or a something or several something's…the details were still unclear. She assumed that the Raven coming closer was a sign that the trickster was approaching, that it was almost upon her or that it meant the Raven was someone close to her, someone within her circle. Maybe that was jumping to conclusions.

"You'd never think it would you?" Emily murmured sending Bonnie's heart racing. She approached Bonnie from beside the window and perched on the end of the bed, smiling unsettlingly at her descendant; she placed a pendant on the bed beside Bonnie and then edged it toward her. Bonnie looked at it, the jewel was amber and it was set in a silver casing, there were engravings too – reminiscent of wings or creatures or winged-creatures…the entire spectacle was surreal.

"My gift to you," Emily intimated, continuing her smile as she registered Bonnie's unease about trying on the unknown piece of jewellery, "why would I kill my only true descendant Bonnie? The Bennett Witches have a long proud history that I intend you to continue." Bonnie nervously reached out and touched it, there was a slight-tingle, she slipped it on over her head and could feel the warmth emanating outward from it, as though the pendant was bonding with her.

Bonnie frowned uncertainly.

"What wouldn't I ever think?" Bonnie probed.

Now Emily's mouth curled down at the edges, mirroring Bonnie's own expression.

"That he will be your undoing Bonnie," Emily murmured, standing up abruptly, "that it is the one you love that will betray you." The lightning flashed and thunder rumbled and Emily was gone. Bonnie leaned back and allowed the embrace of sleep to carry her away…she couldn't focus on what Emily had said…she was too tired and too stressed to focus upon that.

. . .

It was something that he'd learned from Jules, something about his senses…they'd become heightened, more heightened every time that he turned…but in a way his senses seemed…_more_ than human. It was the animalistic side in him asserting itself, the wolf within…it sounded stupid but that was what it felt like, the pack mentality…he could sense things, sense people around him – smell them, define them by a scent. The musty odour of Vampires, the dulled down perfume of humans and then…wolf aroma…it was…_pungent_.

But it wasn't just the smell with Wolves, he could tell when one was nearby, when one was passing through Mystic Falls, he'd sensed two enter the town the other week, they lingered for a few days and then they'd passed out of town again…but they'd left a very particular fragrance behind them…something that had stayed over the town like they were trying to scent their territory, a warning to other Wolves…other supernaturals in general.

It wasn't just that he could sense though, it was something else…something more spiritual entirely. At first he'd just thought it was a dream, his dreams were generally either ones about girls or nightmares about the process of turning at the full moon but this dream had been different, he'd seen his dad and at first his dad had just looked at him, looked him up and down and then smiled kindly, as though he was glad to see his son. But then the dream had lengthened to more than just a greeting between the two, his dad had come up close to him and patted him on the back and then hugged him…and it had been almost real, as though he could real feel his dad's hand on his shoulder. It had seemed so real and then he'd been dragged back to reality, his Mom had called out his name, telling him that it was breakfast time and that his pancakes were on the table. It had been a few weeks and each time the dream developed, first a few words, then a few sentences, now they had a whole conversation, each time they got further and further, until Tyler asked the real burning question, why his dad never told him he was a Werewolf and that if he killed anyone he'd trigger the curse – maybe he knew that Mason would come along and tell him one day but Tyler just, just wished that his dad might have told him, at least then he'd have known that he cared.

He rolled awake – maybe it had been the thunder rumbling in the distance, though he wasn't a light sleeper so that was unusual, the first few droplets of rain were spitting at the window, dribbling down, casting jagged shadows across the room as lightning cracked – but it was something else, there was wolf stench, Tyler opened his eyes lazily – it was the middle of the night – and then froze, his father was in the bedroom, dressed in the same suit he'd worn the night he died, looking out the window toward the storm.

"Hello son," he greeted simply, "big storm, it'll be hanging over Mystic Fall for a few days."

Tyler's faced creased in confusion.

"You'll learn how to forecast weather soon, Wolves can sense the change in weather, it's why they head to caves before a rain-storm or build a snug when they know cold weather's on the way," his father clued-up, "can't you feel it in your bones son? The electricity at the base of your spine, gradually rising as the thunder gets closer." It rumbled again, ominously in the distance, illuminating the room again as lighting crackled across the sky.

"What are you doing here?" Tyler demanded, he wasn't sure whether it was the dream again or some kind of spirit but he wasn't interested in what it had to say, in life as in death his father was the same man, fundamentally uninterested in his son and too concerned with hunting Vampires…the irony being that it was the Vampires that were actually helping Tyler grow into the person he was meant to be. The irony being that Stefan and Damon probably had more paternal qualities than his father had ever had, it was even more ironic considering that it was the things his father had despised the most in life that offered Tyler the most comfort…of course he was thinking of Caroline in that respect rather than the Salvatore brothers.

"Bringing a warning," he said, still looking out at the storm ignoring his son – as always, "something is coming to this town Tyler, something that I don't want you to be here for when it arrives, you're special, like I was – what's coming likes special things, likes to play with them, and then it likes to _kill them_ – be wary son, of even your friends." The lightning cracked and his father was gone, Tyler felt a shiver go down his spine, he was scared of what his father has sad but even more frightened to accept it, he didn't want to have to deal with that news. He wouldn't.

. . .

School was possibly the most mundane part of her life – not that she loved being hunted by Vampire-Werewolf hybrids or being the plaything of Katherine and the original Mystic Falls Vampires – she wouldn't have taken the past two years of her life again no matter how much you offered her – except falling in love with Stefan, that part she had loved. Some people had been caught in the crossfire – Matt and Caroline notably but she had looked past that, for all the bad that happened since Stefan had come into her life he had brought her so much joy that she didn't care what anyone said about their relationship anymore, he was right for her and she was right for him. And the century or so age difference didn't matter to her either.

In some way however she quite enjoyed the ordinariness of School, especially History Class with Alaric – not that she liked it because she was Teacher's Pet but she liked it because she could lose herself in History, she could actually get passionate about Schoolwork. But despite how engaging Ric could be, especially when he was teaching about a subject that he truly cared about or was interested in like the French Revolution or Ancient Egypt, no amount of energetic teaching would interest her in First Period. She couldn't help yawning despite having a steaming mug of coffee before she left the House and a follow up take-away cup on the way to school with Caroline.

Caroline however was brought out of her own dull slumber, as was Bonnie and any other female member of the room except Elena when he walked into the room. _He_ was a god sent from heaven, tall, perfectly built with wide-shoulders and just the right amount of muscle, and the effortlessly styled blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes that would make any girl in Mystic Falls High fall off their chair – they didn't really have that many hot guys to look for so when one came into their lives you knew about it. Alaric approached him and had the _new student_ conversation before turning to face the class.

"Class this is Adrian…so…just make him feel at home." Ric said slightly awkwardly for him, maybe Ric hadn't had his morning coffee Elena presumed she looked to her left and realized that he was going to take the empty desk next to her…perfect…she had to had the guy everyone was lusting after next to her and she wasn't interested: not that she didn't find him attractive. He was beautiful in the same way that Stefan was…he just wasn't her type, he was too clean-cut for her liking…too perfect, she liked a little roughness around the edges and this guy didn't have that. He walked along the desk and slumped into the seat, he was wearing combat boots, skinny jeans, a simple aqua-green tee and leather jacket, he slung his tan satchel onto the floor beside his desk and got out his notebook and pens. He flashed a perfect smile at Elena; he had one of those smiles that always made you want to punch someone in the face so you could ruin that smile, the pearly white smile that always made you feel so inferior when you stood next to someone for a photo.

"I'm Adrian," he said, leaning over to talk to her with a pronounced British accent, "is your History Teacher always so…distant?"

Elena laughed, she'd never heard Ric described as _distant_ before, she'd heard people say a lot of things about them, most of them weren't nice but that was Mystic Falls – it was a small town so people were very two-faced and very rude and condescending, especially people who weren't from the Founding Families, and even then internal insults were often worse than those actually passed around in the town at large.

"No, he just hasn't had his morning coffee," she said, she smiled back at him realizing that he was waiting for some kind of warmth from her, "I'm Elena – and if you think Ric's distant then you're gonna have a hard time at Mystic Falls, he's about the most-switched on Teacher here."

Adrian nodded with comprehension, "Have we met before – I have a touch of _déjà vu_?"

"I think I'd remember, it isn't every day that a British guy comes into a room and a whole room of girls stops what they're doing and stares at him," he sniggered at that comment, "then again the girls here would probably start swooning at anything…"

"Good to know," he said, turning back to the blackboard to pay attention to Ric as he began speaking, "although they weren't _all_ looking at me."

Elena didn't reply focusing on the lesson but she kept her peripheral vision focused upon him as the lesson went on, every so often she caught him looking at her – the comment about them not all looking at him had to be aimed at her, but, maybe he would just get the idea that she wasn't interested because she had a boyfriend and she wasn't looking for someone…or maybe he'd need a clear-cut message. Regardless she didn't need him paying her so much attention, it was unnecessary and she didn't need it_, _especially because if she asked her boyfriend to have a quiet word with him he'd end up dead with fang-marks in his neck.

. . .

"That guy was beyond _weird_." Elena said definitely as she took a bite out of her homemade sandwich, she though back to warm memories of Jenna being incapable of making a packed lunch and asking Elena to always do it, and then her mind slipped back to Adrian and she felt a shiver travel down to the base of her spine, the rest of the class might have been completely enamoured with him but he just gave her the creeps.

"He was totally checking you out though," enthused Caroline – she took a sip from her water, not that she actually needed to drink it but she needed to keep up human appearances, "and he was kinda quite I guess, if that's what your into…personally I don't see the attraction though, tall, blonde and muscular – where's the hot guy in that?"

Elena couldn't help but laugh a little at Caroline's joke, she was probably just using it to mask her feelings about Matt but at least she could laugh at it, that meant the pain was subsiding a little bit – only a little bit but, it was a good sign that she was moving on, "I swear that you woke up just like everyone else did in that room when he walked in."

"It was something different to the routine," Caroline mused, "besides just 'cause I don't think he's hot doesn't mean I don't like having some guy-candy to look at." She winked at Elena and then frowned a little, Elena turned her head and realized Caroline had made eye-contact with Matt, they had broken the line of sight as soon as they'd seen one another but they'd done it a fraction of a second too slowly. "Why do boys have to be so much hard work – you've got the new guy lusting after you and you don't even like him!" Caroline's frown deepened and Elena gave her a quizzical expression and then turned to the right to intercept the incoming kiss on her lips, Stefan grinned at her and then cast his head around as though he were expecting the new guy to just appear out of thin air, "Well…not exactly _lusting_…"

"What I'm not in School and suddenly you're moving on? I'm deeply _offended_." Stefan mocked, pecking Elena on the lips again, Caroline made a gagging noise however and the two broke apart and Caroline smiled, pleased that her mission to stop the _very_ public display of affection had been a successful one.

"It's just a guy, he had this whole effect on everyone but me…" Elena said but found herself trailing off as she focused on the opposite side of the parking lot. Bonnie had been walking towards them a few minutes ago smiling but now she had stopped dead, and then she made a loud piercing scream. This was matched by a much lower yell on the opposite side of the Parking Lot, spinning around Elena recognized the yell as coming from Tyler, both of them dropped to the ground clutching their heads and yelling loudly, and then began rolling around wildly as though they were being set upon by invisible creatures, and then as quickly as it had happened it was over and they were both getting up, looking decidedly dazed. Not that the Parking Lot noticed, after a moment of interest they Mystic Falls students ignored what they had seen and blocked it out – in a town where so much strange stuff happened, strange stuff that was irrational, most people in the town developed the inbuilt ability to block out anything that was illogical. Bonnie and Tyler both crossed the Parking Lot, making a beeline for the picnic table and settled down, Tyler next to Elena and Bonnie next to Caroline.

"What _just happened_?" Caroline enquired.

. . .

Hope you enjoyed my first chapter,

I had to change my idea a little bit from the first time I posted this but it's much more developed now so hopefully I won't run into issues,

Reviews welcome,

Acrobat

X


	2. Chapter 2

**The Vampire Diaries**

It had seemed to pass in a flash, they were fine now, both sitting calmly at the table beside them, but somehow Elena felt uncomfortable, like someone had walked over her grave or one someone had cut her loose from the puppet strings in the sky. She didn't even know why she felt so affected, she hadn't been the one who'd actually gone through the fit, Tyler and Bonnie were remaining tight-lipped about what they'd felt despite Caroline's protestations which were becoming increasingly frequent and increasingly annoying.

"So were you attacked…or were you…?" she allowed the question to float away on the wind, Tyler and Bonnie were equally as stubborn as one another, and neither seemed particularly well disposed to airing their feelings. Elena felt Stefan's hand slip to her back – a comforting gesture but also a protective one, maybe as a Vampire he was more attuned to their surroundings – he could certainly sense something, Elena could see his eyes trained on the fringes of the woods – did that mean something was coming?

Bonnie shrugged, eating a mouthful of her salad.

"It was nothing."

"Normal." Affirmed Tyler, drinking some of his soda while trying to avoid Caroline's line of vision.

"That wasn't normal," Caroline disagreed fervently, "people don't just start having a fit at the same time – especially when the people in question are a," she lowered her voice at this point, "Werewolf and a Witch." Not that anyone in Mystic Falls would bat an eyelid, they'd probably just think they'd been reading too much into the folklore of the town, there were all manner of weird sightings scattered across the wider literature of Mystic Falls, sightings that couldn't be sightings and had to be stories, they were completely illogical.

"Well," Bonnie caught Tyler's eye, he still seemed reluctant, "can you just stop interfering Caroline? Obviously me and Tyler are going through something," he nodded, "so just try and let us work through this okay? We don't even know what it is so there's no point in just randomly discussing it and drawing the wrong conclusions."

"Just let the dust settle a little." Tyler added, he cast his head skyward, "We should probably get indoors it's about to start raining." Elena looked up and then gave him a quizzical expression, there might have been a storm last night but it had started clearing up she could see blue sky and glorious sunshine above – he must be crazy.

"So tell me about the new guy?" Stefan asked turning to Elena, "Is he giving you trouble?"

"He's just flirtatious," she protested, "I mean it's not like I'm interested in him anyway…even if Caroline and Bonnie are completely in love." The two girls opposite made offended noises and shot Elena reproachful looks, "Well Bonnie is anyway." Caroline had drifted back to looking at Matt across the Parking Lot…she was probably even more in love now than she had been when they were dating. She couldn't keep her gaze off him, and Elena would bet anything that she'd have compelled him to love her again by now if she didn't think it would be so personally painful to do it, not to mention that Stefan and Damon wouldn't allow it.

"And he's coming over here right now." Bonnie said, looking over Elena's shoulder, within the blink of an eye Adrian was slotting into the space on the end of Caroline and Bonnie's side of the table, opposite Stefan, Elena felt him stiffen beside her – was he actually squaring up to this guy? _And who said after a century jealousy subsided?_ She understood being protective but Stefan couldn't actually be feeling challenged by this guy, Stefan could probably snap him in half. She thought she heard Tyler swear under his breath as Adrian settled into his seat and she also saw a look cross Bonnie's face with recognition – had she seen something in Tyler's expression that Elena hadn't?

"Hope I'm not intruding?"

"By all means," Elena said warmly trying and failing to break the atmosphere, "whose English Class are you in – I didn't see you in mine?"

"Miss Stewart, delightful woman actually," Elena frowned – Miss Stewart was a self-confessed bitch, she'd made Elena's life hell as a Freshman, burying her in assignments to do and then putting her in detention when she didn't have enough time to do the Herculean amount she'd been given, "I suppose my charm might have _compelled_ her into deciding against giving me homework on my first day." He grinned and Elena felt a shiver down her spine at the word 'compelled' as Stefan tightened his grip on the small of her back. A subdued horn sounded from the lot, drawing all their attentions and Adrian rose from the table, "That'll be my brother, catch you later." He walked in a relaxed fashion across the lot to the sleek black Mercedes saloon and slipped inside it, the car tore away from the lot – evidently he had somewhere better to be.

"Is he a Vampire?" Elena quizzed, everyone around the room responded with a unanimous nod. Why did she always attract the _keepers_?

. . .

"I say we kill him," Damon replied automatically with relish, downing his Scotch and pouring himself a second, "or kill both of them – I mean isn't that what we always do when a Vampire shows up that's interested in Elena?"

"Nobody's killing anyone," Elena ruled out, "we don't even know that the guy's hostile – it could be completely innocent."

"They came to Mystic Falls, he enrolled in your school and he made a point of coming and talking to you knowing that there were two Vampires among your friends, not to mention a Witch and a Werewolf – that's deliberate Elena," Damon finished his second Scotch, "if the guy isn't playing with you for some reason then he must have a death wish – no Vampire's stupid enough to make a play for someone with your kind of friends."

Elena looked to Stefan but all she got from her boyfriend was a look of passivity – Stefan couldn't seriously agree with Damon? Klaus was in the past and the whole structure had broken down after that, why would two random Vampires suddenly decide to take an interest in her and make it their business to antagonize her supernatural friends? This had to be innocent – it was like Damon said no Vampire would be stupid enough to make a play for Elena, knowing what kind of company she kept, so it had to be innocent – there wasn't a motive.

"He has a point," Stefan admitted honestly, "Elena, Adrian has taken an interest in you, if he were just passing through innocently wouldn't it make more sense for him to bite first and ask questions later? His entering into our circle might have been provocative but it was also evaluative – he was testing us, to see how we'd react, he knows we can't move in the open but he also now knows how we work – it also means we don't have any surprises to pull on him."

"Except me," Damon declared confidently, "and I'm gonna go and rip his head of his body and stake him and drop him off at Sheriff Forbes's and tell her I've single-handedly saved the town again from the menace of _Vampires_." He grinned evilly, Elena was half-expecting him to cap it all off with a villainous laugh and disappear in a cloud of smoke – she could separate fact from fiction but half of the time she almost thought that the fiction sometimes reflected the fact, Damon could certainly play up to it. There was a darkness to him, the obscurity that was unnerving if you were in a dark alley, the same thing that used to grab her when she'd watched _Dracula_ for the first time with Bonnie in the Sixth Grade and he enjoyed the drama of the kill – Stefan said that a lot of Vampires, especially the newer ones had come to view killing as functional – a means to an end and had removed any drama from getting their fix. Damon seemed to adhere to the old rules, singling out a lone woman, terrifying the life out of her and then drinking from her while she was screaming, it was a side of Damon that scared Elena every time she saw it.

Elena frowned, "I don't think we should do anything – at least not yet," she was beginning to accept their point, "if Adrian is planning on doing something then he'll do it soon – I think this is related to whatever Tyler and Bonnie are going through, whatever they won't tell us about, I say that we wait until they make a move. They aren't going to just sit around now that they know that we're all on high alert for something…for anything."

Stefan nodded, "That makes sense – can your thirst wait?" he directed the question at his brother who looked depressed about the fact there wouldn't be any staking or killing.

"It never waits," Damon grinned and flashed his fangs, "I'll be back in a couple of hours, I think I'll look up an old friend." In a flash he was gone and they were alone – the rain was hammering down around them now – Tyler's prediction had been right. Elena relaxed back into the sofa – the only consolation of knowing she was being hunted by Vampires was that she was safe in the Salvatore's House, Stefan took the cushion next to her and eased his arm around her, Elena snuggled up next to him, resting her head on his chest. Where there should have been the comforting thud of a heart there was only silence, Elena didn't miss it though, in a way that silence was what attracted her to Stefan, he was for all his flaws a calming influence in her darkest hours.

"What do you think he wants?" Elena asked after a few moments of silence, Stefan looked down at her and then pinched her shoulder affectionately.

"Whatever it is he won't get it." He reassured kissing her on the top of his head, and then Elena felt a bolt of lightning go through him and felt him leave the sofa, propping herself up on her arms as she swung her head around to see who Stefan had risen to face, and she felt her heart skip a beat as she watched Stefan square up to them.

"Hello Elena." two voices murmured and Elena swung her head around and stopped dead, shrinking back against the sofa. Two people she'd never expected to see again, two people she shouldn't have ever been able to see again, the first was shorter and dark-haired with a pale-complexion – Isabelle, the second taller and auburn-haired Jenna.

"Miss me?" Jenna asked, grinning.

"It's been a while." Smirked Isabelle, extending a single finger and hurling Stefan across the room, smashing him into the bookcase and leaving him slumped on the ground, mildly dazed by the encounter, "Always rushing to her rescue, unfortunately you won't be able to save her from this."

. . .

He had known she was following him a long time back, she had after all been the one to teach him how to hone his senses so her scent was particularly familiar to him, except it couldn't be her scent – she was after all dead. But dead or not she was following him now, always keeping a few paces aft of him, still smelling like the Jules he'd known when he was live, still smelling like the Jules that had helped him accept who he was, still smelling like the Jules that he'd cared about at one point like she was his sister. Then Klaus had torn her from his grasp and he'd lost one of the only people who understood him, just as he had reached an understanding with her.

"Stop following me." He said, drawing up and then turning around to face her, Jules had somehow moved quickly because she was an inch away from his face as he turned on his heel, she was smiling but it was a nervous smile – as though she was worried, her eyes kept looking past him and then she cast her head skyward – toward the threatening grey clouds, the rain was now intermittent but the showers were becoming progressively heavier. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating them both, Jules gestured toward one of the trees and Tyler followed her, seating himself on the ground beside her: he wasn't sure why. In fact he was almost certain that he would look like he was sat on his own beneath that tree in the middle of a thunderstorm, except somehow Jules's aura was like a protective beacon, as though he was basking in some light that gifted him invulnerability.

"You're Dad didn't get through to you, he thought I might do better," she murmured looking out across the ground, "I've hated Vampires all my life and in the end all that I succeeded in doing was helping create a monster. Why haven't you got out of Mystic Falls? You were so happy when we were on the road together…before I stupidly brought you back to this hellhole, Tyler why did you come back here, you don't have anything left-"

"-I have my Mom," he interjected immediately, though he could tell from her expression that Jules didn't believe that for a second, "believe what you like but we don't have to live hating the Vampires, since you _died_," he wasn't going to be sensitive about that subject, she was dead and cold in the ground, "the Salvatores and Caroline have been really helpful, they've helped me adapt, helped me set up the crypt as a safe place for me to turn and they watch over me when I do, to make sure that I don't get out and hurt anyone. We can coexist together, it doesn't have to be war."

Jules's smile had changed now – it was a sympathetic one, was that pity?

"Look Damon and Stefan might have helped you, and you might have this infatuation with Caroline but they're hardly representative of the whole Vampire community," Jules declared bluntly, "the sooner you realize that and get out of this town the safer you will be – the Vampires attract other Vampires and those others Tyler," she paused and looked him straight in the eye, "are the ones that will kill you. Tyler something is coming to Mystic Falls, something more powerful than the Salvatores, something…something that might even be more powerful that the Originals.

"There have been stories handed down by the Wolves for generations…story of a being who," Jules paused and cast her head over her shoulder, Tyler looked in the direction she was and couldn't see anything, "I have to go," she rose to her feet and Tyler mirrored, "Tyler I'll come back…or I'll send someone just…just be wary, I have to go." She broke into a run, out into the now pouring rain and in the flash of lightning vanished. Tyler rose to his feet and looked around – he couldn't see what Jules had run from and he didn't care, she might have at least cared about him but just because she warned him away from them didn't mean she would do something. He wasn't the naïve little kid anymore that would be the Vampires plaything, they were his friends and he trusted them…he more than trusted Caroline, and he wasn't going to let anyone dissuade him from his confidence in them.

. . .

Bonnie sniggered, "You've been staring at him since we got here Caroline – he's avoiding you." She felt sorry for Caroline being so hung up on Matt, and she felt worse for Caroline that Matt still couldn't full accept her for who she was but at the same time she had the burning desire to tell Caroline to just get over him and find someone new; she was almost certain that Tyler fancied her and the two of them had become increasingly close over the past year or so. "Maybe we should swop places?" Bonnie suggested, Caroline didn't say anything but stood up and moved around, Bonnie copied her and settled into Caroline's seat facing the Bar, Matt's head instantly snapped up and he smiled warmly at her, Bonnie's mouth twitched-upwards but it wasn't a full grin – just a friendly one.

"Look it isn't that I'm hung up on him," Caroline lied through her teeth but she didn't want to admit to herself that she was still madly in love with him, she could acknowledge that she'd had feelings for him but not that she still possessed them, "I just miss him…even if we were still friends but we aren't even that…we just…get along and say hey really awkwardly when we see each other in the hallway at School and it's…it's ridiculous, isn't it?"

Bonnie nodded and sipped at her soda, "You might not be getting any attention but a guy just gave me the eye." Caroline's jaw drop and she swung her head around and immediately spotted the guy Bonnie had been talking about, he was as tall as Matt with dusty brunette hair and dressed pretty fashionably for Mystic Falls, an aquamarine-violet Check shirt with indigo skinny jeans and combat boots. He turned back to the bar and began drinking his Beer Bottle and started a conversation with Matt, Caroline turned back to Bonnie.

"He definitely just asked Matt your name." she said knowingly.

"No he didn't…I was probably just making it up." Bonnie dismissed, eating a last mouthful of pasta before putting her cutlery down on the plate and contenting herself that being daring and ordering extra chilli on her Penne was as exciting as the night was going to get.

"Yeah he did," Caroline pointed at her ear and Bonnie laughed, Caroline made too much use of her newly acquired Vampire abilities, "and he's heading out to his Car right now – go surprise him in the carpark and give him your number." Bonnie bit her lip – she wasn't sure if she wanted to do this, sure enough the guy moved away across the Grill toward the door, she teetered on the brink and then bolted from the chair, slowing down so she didn't look desperate, leaving the Grill a couple of minutes after he'd gone out into the Parking Lot. It was dark – the streetlight must have been out but the distant light from the Grill illuminated the Lot adequately, she could see him open the back door of his saloon and throw something into it – a satchel. He turned around and in the light she saw something glinting around his neck – a Silver pendant, encrusted with a small but perfectly formed Sapphire, there were letterings on it too but she couldn't tell where they came from.

"Hey," she called out and the guy stopped, straightening up and closing the distance between them to a few metres, "so I saw you looking at me and…and I wondered if you'd like my number?"

The guy frowned and then looked her up and down.

"Is something wrong?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"You're a Bennett Witch aren't you?" he probed, she didn't get a chance to reply before the stars were swirling around her face and she was hurled across the lot by a spell that was similar in magnitude to being hit by a truck.

. . .

Hope you liked Chapter 2,

Reviews welcome and appreciated,

Minor error corrected,

Acrobat

X

Chapter 3 up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**The Vampire ****Diaries **

"Bonnie? Bonnie!" Caroline's voice, gradually rising in ever-increasing worry finally penetrated the depths of her induced sleep and snapped her out of it – whatever the spell had been it had hit her hard, not as hard as the collision with the parking lot but hard enough that she felt sufficiently disorientated, she tried to stood up and then stumbled back and Caroline helped her up – thankfully a crowd hadn't appeared, as Caroline helped her back to the Grill Bonnie spotted Matt poke his head out of the door: he was worried. About Caroline not her but it still made her feel slightly better, perhaps there were still the embers of a burning romance there – they just needed helping along, although she wouldn't be able to help them now. Caroline helped her across the threshold until she had her legs under control and then walked at her side till they took their seats again at the table.

"Bonnie seriously you scared me – what happened, you'd been gone like fifteen minutes?" Bonnie frowned, it had felt like a lot longer – he'd clearly hit her hard. She flexed her fingers and felt a sense of relief, she still had control of her powers – the salt-shaker that she'd focused upon had levitated slightly at her concentration upon it. If she was honest with herself she couldn't remember very clearly beyond the guy calling her out as Bennett Witch and then hurling her across the Parking Lot.

"He was a Warlock," she murmured in hushed tones, looking around the Grill to check that they weren't being listened in on and to ensure that nobody was sat near enough to overhear them, "and he cast some kind of spell on me…it was dark magic though Caroline – I've never encountered anything like that before, even the Witches Klaus had working for him weren't so…evil…they were acting under duress: that kind of magic was something else."

Caroline nodded knowingly as though she was some kind of expert on magic. The truth was apart from evil she hadn't been paying attention to Bonnie, she'd purposefully retaken the seat facing the bar so she could get a good look at Matt but he was still avoiding her gaze: she'd get him back one of these days, they were meant for each other, like Elena and Stefan only in reverse, he was the human and she was the Vampire. She sipped at her drink and then gave Bonnie an innocent look when she realized Bonnie hadn't been talking for the past few minutes.

"Caroline this is really serious," Bonnie emphasized, "a guy that commands magic I don't even understand or know anything about just shows up in Mystic Falls and your falling over backwards to get Matt's attention – Caroline this guy could want to kill you, I mean what if he's a Vampire Hunter or something and he's in town to hunt you and the Salvatore's down: he could kill you three."

"He won't," Caroline murmured disinterestedly, and then she groaned and focused her attentions on Bonnie, "look Bonnie you're fine, that guy obviously didn't do anything except stun you so you wouldn't follow him or sense that he was a Warlock, I just…I think you're overreacting – he's probably just passing through, I mean we're here most weeks and we've never seen him before. It's probably coincidence, besides you said that the Bennett Witches go back to the Salem Witch Trials so there's probably folklore about your family…he just probably new something of the history."

"I should probably getting going, maybe there's something in one of the Grimoire's about him…or his family," she went to leave and then realized Caroline's interest had strayed back to Matt, again, she groaned and stood up, "thanks for paying attention Caroline." She turned and left speedily, wondering why she'd even bothered trying to explain things to Caroline when she was so clearly hung up on Matt. She passed Damon in the doorway but didn't stop – she was too focused on getting home. He eased into the Grill and spotted Caroline, moving between tables and past people until he could slide into the seat opposite her, grinning.

"You just _fed_ didn't you?" she asked disinterestedly, lingering over Matt before focusing back upon Damon who was leaning back in his seat confidently.

"Oh come on," Damon implored, "it's not like I killed her, I just had a little fun and a little drink – it was a win-win for everyone!" Caroline gave him an unconvinced look, raising an eyebrow disapprovingly, she'd followed Stefan's example of sustaining herself on Animal Blood, and had come to detest Damon's personal preference for the real thing, she was a new Vampire, she didn't have the desire to feast on people like Damon…probably because she had lived a century of urges, she was just going through a teething stage, eventually her needs would subside – mainly because she hadn't engorged herself at the start of the process. For a fraction of a second she could pity Damon for his dependence and then she shook it off – he had the will to stop if he wanted to, he just violated women because he could.

"What are you doing here anyway?" her ayes narrowed accusingly as she took her focus of Matt and onto Damon.

"I need your help," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice that made Caroline would have made her want to vomit – if she could, "I'm looking up and old-friend and I need a wingman – more specifically a wing Vampire."

"What about Stefan?" she demanded.

"Yeah I don't think he'd approve," he gave her puppy eyes, "please?"

She took one look at Matt and despite her longing entertained Damon's proposal, it was an excuse to get out of Mystic Falls and away from Matt for a little while, and it would be a change of scenery – although the major downside was it meant going with Damon and probably meant she would have to kill some people.

"Fine but I'm driving." She couldn't bear Damon's driving, she had only had to suffer that indignity briefly and it had been the most terrifying experience of her life. She wasn't sure why she had assented to the request, she might tell herself it was because she wanted to get away but maybe it was because she wanted a danger or a thrill…something different, maybe it was her subconscious telling her she needed excitement in her life – maybe she would find that with Damon.

. . .

Elena backed away nervously and then turned around and found her mother looking at her smiling, Jenna stood sheepishly to one side, she walked over to Stefan and crouched beside him, ensuring he hadn't been accidently impaled on a splinter after smashing into the book-case at Isabelle's slightest touch – Isabelle wasn't concerned, she never had been when it came to the people in Elena's life: unless of course they were somehow linked to her escaping, then Elena paid attention.

"I'm sorry it's been so long darling," she touched her daughter's face affectionately but Elena turned away…this was all too strange, "please Elena, I'll only be here for a short time – please just…just sit down and listen," Elena reluctantly sat on the chair as Isabelle settled next to her, Jenna rose and came to stand in front of the two of them, "I've missed you Elena – it's so lonely on the other side you know, but one is never truly alone in the world of Spirits."

"What are you talking about," Elena demanded, at the moment the only think stopping her from freaking out was the shock of the entire process, "how are you here? You're both dead, I saw you burn to death and Jenna I saw Klaus kill you in cold blood…and what do you mean world of Spirits Isabelle? You're going to have to be a little clearer."

Jenna spoke this time, "It's…complicated…we don't really understand it ourselves – when a person dies their soul – their spirit lives on in the spirit realm with others…except recently there have been cracks opening, occasional windows that allow us to resume our physical forms in this world: the world of the living. But it only works in the case of spirits that have particularly strong emotional connections to the living and in places that are strong in…mystical energy – like Mystic Falls."

Isabelle nodded, "We're here to bring you a warning Elena, Spirits are more attuned to changes in the balance of things than the living though your friends Tyler and Bonnie should already have started sensing it…there is a darkness coming to Mystic Falls that is…stronger than anything you've ever known or should ever have to know, Bonnie and Tyler sensed it first because Witches and Werewolves can pick up on changes relative to magic in Bonnie's case or species in Tyler…Vampires don't have the same aura so things will be different for them…they will have already been contacted by people they have an affinity with."

"What is this darkness…who is it? Klaus? An original or just a whole other species?" Elena probed, in her peripheral vision she could see Stefan stirring at the base of the book case. "You aren't really giving me a lot to go on."

"We don't know much," Jenna interjected, watching Isabelle carefully, "all that we know for certain…is…Elena its Jeremy…he's the _key_." Thunder rumbled in the distance and Isabelle stood up, she and Jenna visibly stiffened turning away from one another and circling the room in opposite directions before coming back together in front of Elena, both of them looking scared, fear etched into their faces. In a rumble of thunder Jenna had disappeared from the room and only Isabelle was left, she took Elena's hands in her own and squeezed them tightly…Elena could feel her…yet Isabelle was a spirit…none of this made any sense.

Isabelle smiled reassuringly, "Stay close to Stefan – he can protect you but be wary of your brother Elena…he is the weak link in the chain…he is the one…I'm sorry Elena I have to go," Isabelle began stepping away from her, "we'll see each other again." The thunder rumbled again and Isabelle faded away, Elena allowed herself to fall into Stefan's embrace as he came towards her from his sitting position, he kept his head up, scanning the room.

"Where'd they go?" he quizzed, looking round as though he expected them to leap down from the roof on top of them.

"I don't know…," Elena voiced nervously, "but I'm scared Stefan, really scared." She looked past him at the rainstorm outside as the thunder rumbled once more overhead.

. . .

When you were the only one in your and your sister's mutual friend group who wasn't in someway supernatural – barring a quirky life-saving piece of jewellery – you had a tendency to feel naturally isolated, but this was somehow more than that, he felt like he'd been left out of the loop, he hadn't seen the others at school because he had been buckling down to try and pull his grades out of a terminal decline and he was starting to rectify them. It had however meant spending hours studying, hours he could have spent with Bonnie but he hadn't. He put his pen-down, realizing that he wasn't going to get anymore Biology done and felt his heart skip a beat as he looked in his window and turned around to see John, perched on the edge of his bed, his hands interlocked and his-head hung downward, he looked up and smiled weakly, moving to intercept Jeremy as he ran for the door.

"What do you want?" Jeremy yelled, he didn't even know why he was raising his voice, there was no chance of his attracting the attention of anyone – he was alone in the house, Elena was at the Salvatore's House – as she normally was.

"Just to talk," John insisted, throwing Jeremy down onto his bed with stronger than human strength, Jeremy surveyed his uncle but failed to get a read on him as he sat up, resting on his arms slightly, John crossed the room to stand in front of Jeremy, he looked as if he was trying to say something and then sat next to Jeremy, looking straight ahead of him instead of making eye contact, "I'm sorry Jeremy – I should have spoken to you before I died, before I traded myself for Elena – but I had to take that decision then and there…she's my daughter and I didn't exactly do a lot for her while I was alive, it was the only gift I could ever give her.

"I'm sorry that I left it all to Jenna to look after you," he said – it was odd, John had never done remorse when he was alive and he had never spoken about the period after their parents deaths before, "you needed a father figure in your life, I'm not even half the man your father was," he added immediately, not wanting to receive a storm of abuse, "I should have been here, been here to protect you…and been here to prepare you."

"Yeah because you know everything John," Jeremy snapped, he then turned to look at his uncle, "how are you here – am I just imaging it or are you really here?"

"I'm not here," John ruled out, "I'm crossing a barrier – it's complicated, technically I am here, in this room, in flesh and blood, but technically this is merely a part of myself feeding of the emotions associated with me here that is allowing me to sustain a physical form," Jeremy's face creased in bewilderment, "it's complicated," John repeated, "I'm coming as a warning – I'm just sorry that you're the last one that gets to know Jeremy – there is something evil returning to Mystic Falls, it was born here, it knows the town and more importantly it understands everything supernatural. It has both been predicted by history and at the same time is completely tied to your destiny Jeremy."

"My destiny?" Jeremy scoffed, "John just spit it out already."

John sighed, "I can't – because I don't know how it relates to you – all I know is Jeremy," he reached out with his hand to place it on his shoulder reassuringly but Jeremy shook it off, "you are about to be tested, you are the key to this darkness – it needs you, because you're you…just…just be careful in the next few days and weeks."

Jeremy stood up at that point, he couldn't listen to John failing to make any sense anymore, he didn't need his Uncle causing him problems anymore, he shut out John and ignored his cries as he shut the door to his bedroom and grabbed his keys of the side, opening the door and slamming it behind him as he left the House – he didn't need to clear his head, he needed to wipe it clean – he needed to obliterate any memories and there was only one way to do that: drinking, but not at the Grill, that'd be too obvious: plus he wouldn't get served. He'd have to go to one of the other bars but that wasn't a problem, he wasn't going to let John interfere when things were starting to get back on track – he didn't care if it was in his destiny. John could go back to wherever he'd come from, Jeremy didn't need him in his life.

. . .

She had scoured three of her Grimoire's and found little to shed any light on who it was that had attacked her – he had known she was a Bennett Witch and he had been a Warlock, but it was the use of her family name that she felt held the real clue. She couldn't completely remember everything she had ever learned about her family history – without Grams she didn't have a real link to that part of her family history anymore but she could assume that he belonged to a Magic Family like hers, a family that the attack suggested was not exactly well disposed toward the Bennett's.

"Hello Bonnie," a voice murmured uncertainly and Bonnie swivelled round and screamed as she looked at her Grams for the first time since her Funeral, "I imagine it's quite a shock," she said, she walked over and tried to reach out for her granddaughter's hand but found her advance spurned, "Emily mentioned that she didn't think that she was getting through to you in your dreams so I thought something a little more direct might…achieve some results."

"Grams," Bonnie addressed slowly, watching her Grandmother, "what are you doing here – what do you want?"

"Only to help Bonnie," she reassured, she walked past her granddaughter toward the Grimoire's and scanned through them, "I see that you're looking through our family history – unfortunately you won't be able to find what you're looking for without a little help," she went silent for a moment and one of the Grimoire's flipped open to pages that had been previously been blank, drip by drip writing formed in cursive script on the page, drop by drop, "it's a protection device the Bennett Witches introduced long ago.

"There was a time Bonnie when our family had its enemies," she admitted, she sat in a chair beside the desk and motioned for Bonnie to take the one opposite, her granddaughter did so reluctantly, awkwardly crossing her legs – she wanted to appear relaxed but she couldn't fully give herself over to the situation, "before we left Salem in 1692 we were White Witches Bonnie – Wiccans, we healed the people of the town and helped them with their ailments. But we weren't the only Magical Family in Salem – there was another family, the Stewart's.

"At first we lived in peaceful coexistence once the Stewart's moved into town, they were wealthy and they were white – the two things that really mattered in Salem, we didn't have access to the kind circles they did. Then one time one of the people that we'd been helping died suddenly, he and his whole family were killed, by magic. We Bennett's were blamed but we were not responsible, the Stewart's had killed that family because they wanted their land – they were greedy where we Bennett's only wanted to help people. We had to flee – and so we did, except one Bennett Witch who remained to exact a terrible revenge."

Bonnie considered that a moment, "What kind of a revenge?"

"It is not a proud moment in our family's history Bonnie," she confessed shamefully, "the revenge was one of the most despicable magical acts ever perpetrated, after setting the Family Mansion aflame, the Witch sought out the Mother of the Family, she was not gifted with the Magical Arts but the Witch placed a Curse upon her, upon the birth of a child any matriarch in that family will die – the Curse cannot be broken for it was channelled through a long lost talisman of this family that dated from the time of ancient Egypt. No matter that they had wrongfully put members of our family to death we have condemned the Stewart Family to generations of pain and suffering, it is very possible that the Warlock that attacked you is carrying on the feud."

"How do you know he is from the Stewart Family?" Bonnie prodded.

"Because although there are other Magical Families none would interfere in the relations between the Bennett's and the Stewart's – we are among the most powerful practitioners of respectively white and black magic," Grams admitted, she clutched at her side for a moment as if it pained her, "I am also hear to warn you away from Jeremy Gilbert – the Gilbert's have a History darker than ours Bonnie, there is something that Family did that is more merciless than anything we proceeded to do – Elena is not a direct member of that family but Jeremy is and it has long been prophesized that he would be the tool of…" she trailed of as her eyes darted around the room, she stood up instantly, completely poised and collected and the candles in the room flared, "Bonnie," she walked across the room and put her hands either side of Bonnie's head, "I say this because I love you – leave that boy now, before he can do you more harm than he already has." The candles flared angrily once and then Bonnie as alone in the room, she went over to the Grimoire and looked at the image of the Witch her Grams had mentioned – Rebecca Bennett.

. . .

He hadn't drunk too much but he was certainly feeling buzzed, he had at least numbed the thoughts that John had placed into his head and he was happy, he stared ahead looking at the photograph of Elvis hung behind the bar. It was a type of bar where completely unrelated memorabilia was thrown around the room hap-hazard with no clear overall theme to the place, he drank some more of his Scotch and then gestured for a refill, he turned as a male presence – taller than him and with dark-brunette hair settled into a stool beside him.

"You've been drinking pretty heavily?" he said, gesturing to Jeremy's glass as it was refilled.

"I've got things to forget," he said, he turned and grinned at the guy, "Jeremy Gilbert."

"Toby Johnson," the taller man replied, shaking his hand, "what are you forgetting – girlfriend knock you back?"

"I'm doing fine with her actually," he admitted, "just haven't seen her," he drank some of his Scotch, "what's your excuse?"

"Bars are usually good places to find some fun," Toby clued-up, draining his glass, "especially if you find people who are down on their luck." He cocked an eyebrow provocatively and Jeremy fixed him with a quizzical look.

"Like I said," Jeremy replied pensively, "I have a girlfriend…we're having issues but things are gonna get better, we just need to spend some time together and get together." He sincerely believed that, he and Bonnie had a really good thing going on, all that they needed to do was to spend some more time together and find the spark they'd had without the weight of the world on their shoulders as supernatural events overtook their lives and marred what should have been a perfect romantic traditional courtship.

"Oh things are about to get a lot worse," Toby leaned in close to Jeremy and stared deeply into his eyes, "because you want to have fun tonight don't you?" Toby smirked at that point and Jeremy blinked a few times.

"Maybe I do need to loosen up a bit." Jeremy murmured distractedly, he leaned towards Toby and pecked him softly on the lips before opening his mouth and making the kiss more passionate as he let the light-headed feeling wash all over him, he felt Toby's head come up to the side of his face and cup it more…he didn't know why but suddenly all he could think about was Toby and how great it felt, the feeling of utter elation at making out with a guy. Bonnie and John slipped away from memory in a blaze of passion.

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3,

Reviews welcome,

Chapter 4 up in a few days,

Acrobat

X


	4. Chapter 4

**The Vampire Diaries**

. . .

"You know you could have told me where we were going," Caroline muttered as they took the last flight of stairs into the cavernous Function Room acting as the centre of the Champagne Brunch, "I feel kinda under-dressed." When she'd left the house in jeans, ankle-boots and a cheque shirt she hadn't factored in the need to pack an evening dress and slacks for the event that Damon would whisk her away on a mystery hunt for an old friend Damon insisted they needed to look for.

"We won't stay long," Damon said under his breath, "that is assuming she doesn't already know we're here," they sailed through the door and he realized that she'd sensed them coming a mile off – at least introductions wouldn't be necessary, the slight frame and long-flowing brunette hair drifted through the crowd toward them clutching a glass of champagne tightly in one hand and arrived opposite them, glaring in a way that did not quite imply imminent death but did impress fear, "Katherine – how lovely to see you."

"Cut the crap Damon," she snapped, clearly vexed, "tell me what you and _blondie_ are doing here," she shot a threatening look at Caroline, "before I have you thrown out – unless you know, you'd kill a room of New York's social elite in broad daylight?"

"We need information," Damon lead as he wandered further into the room, forcing Katherine and latterly Caroline to follow him, he made his way to bar and grabbed one of the shapes took one sip and put it down deciding against it, "I see that you're doing well for yourself – which idiot did you compel to marry you this time?"

"There was no compulsion needed," she replied seductively, "the only compulsion I needed was encouraging him to wave a pre-nup – his heart will solve the rest of it, and stop stalling Damon – tell me what you want."

"We want information," Caroline ventured, she knew she should have let Damon do the talking as discussed in the car but she wasn't in the mood to stay so close to Katherine when she knew the Vampire was probably considering ways to kill her without arousing suspicion, "about a blonde Vampire named Adrian, he recently came into Mystic Falls…took an interest in Elena…and we're worried about it – it isn't like a simple crush either, he's looked into her."

"So a Vampire's been watching her, he probably just wants some chow." Katherine dismissed playfully, downing the rest of her champagne – clearly the experience of talking to two Vampires was a very trying experience for her.

"He went to the trouble of enrolling in High School," Damon said and then grimaced at the thought of it, "and he's obviously researched her because he was perfectly comfortable sitting at a lunch table with a Witch, Werewolf and two Vampires – if that's just a Vampire wanting chow Katherine then you're a hell of a lot more naïve then I ever gave you credit for, come-on Caroline she isn't gonna give us anything." Damon turned to leave but Katherine cleared her throat, she grabbed a fresh glass of champagne and sipped at it.

"Describe him again for me." Katherine said, sipping at her glass again as Damon looked to Caroline to give an accurate description.

"Blonde, British, Stefan's height, piercing blue eyes," she had to control her speech to make sure she didn't come across as a love struck school girl, "he was also kinda tanned for a Vampire – had the whole room of girls crushing over him too."

Katherine sniggered a little.

"What's so funny?" Damon asked with the mad-eyed stare that Caroline found so unsettling, it was the look that said I'm about to rip out your heart and show it you as you die unless you pass on information – a look that to any sensible person inspired fear and usually caused them to give up whatever they're hiding. The only issue there was that Katherine was older than Damon and she was a lot scarier than he was. As if to demonstrate the fact she grabbed his arm and bent it until he was wincing slightly, she then relaxed her grip but her grin remained strong on her face and even broadened slightly.

"I know exactly who you're talking about," she made a whooshing noise, "but I'm not really the person you should be asking about – if you're really interested in who Adrian is I'm not the person to help you, we were only really acquaintances at best for a brief spell in the Forties – if my memory serves I think Stefan actually spent the whole of the Thirties with him, maybe you should ask your brother, now if you'll excuse me I have a brunch to get back to." Katherine grabbed her glass of champagne and left the two Vampires behind her, heading out toward her husband with the full intent of slipping a pill inside his drink that would contribute to his spiralling blood pressure – and then he would die and she would be rich. She sensed them leave and smiled once more to herself – not just for the benefit of her husband but also because she was reliving old memories – if only she could be there to see the delicious conversation between Stefan and Damon, unfortunately she was preoccupied and the Salvatores would need to take a backseat.

. . .

The boy's blood has been a particularly mouth-watering and had it not been for the need to keep a relatively low profile and his importance to their master Toby would have drunk until the boy dropped – alas that had not come to pass and he had instead concerned himself with opening the boy's eyes to the world that was available to him, what made it all the sweeter was that the boy had thought off by the compulsion by that point, he had given into the sexual ecstasy – as had been predicted – and Toby had taken him freely.

He sensed the motionless body tingling on the bed, the room was darkened and the curtains drawn against the sunlight but even then he couldn't have been completely exhausted – Toby played hard but he hadn't worn him out the previous night, merely given him a good workout. The body rolled over with a groan and its eyes blinked a few times before he sat bolt up right in bed and looked around the room, Toby grinned at him and pulled the chair away from the desk, sitting facing Jeremy as the boy pulled the sheets up around him – as though he felt somehow as if he were protecting his privacy when Toby had seen everything the previous night. Of course Toby was perfectly comfortable in his own clothes and perfectly dominant in the situation, if Jeremy ran to the door he could stop him and if he yelled he could silence him.

"Would you like some water – it was a pretty big night last night?" quizzed Toby, turning his back on Jeremy to test how intelligent he was – he didn't run as Toby returned with the glass and handed it to him, he reached at his head as thought it pained him: that was probably the hangover kicking in, Toby hadn't plied him with booze but given him a little to get him suitably buzzed for the situation, "Do you remember anything?"

Jeremy shook his head and looked around nervously, and then he touched at his neck and winced as he found the fang-marks.

"Sorry," Toby interjected, grinning but not showing his fangs, "that was me – I suppose the question is did you enjoy it?"

Jeremy frowned as he tried to figure out what he was referring to, and then Toby watched as his brain began to register the parts of his body that ached, the parts of his body that had experienced pleasure and the parts of his body that were crying out for more of the same – and then saw him swear under his breath – denial. He watched as Jeremy's brain shut down all the possibilities and limited them to the ones where he had been compelled – he watched as a flicker past through Jeremy's eyes, he could remember being compelled at the bar and making out.

"You compelled me." Jeremy protested simply, "You made me do it."

Toby shook his head and laughed.

"You come from a stubborn family Jeremy – and there was residual Vervain in your system, if you think I could have compelled you to do that you're very naïve," Jeremy seemed to threaten to spit out his water mid-swallow, "you let me feed from you, and then you consented to sleep with me – it's in your nature, that little Witch you're dating isn't the one for you – you have a different calling to her, you might pretend to play the good boy or the compliant little brother but it isn't you Jeremy – you saw the real you last night, you let him out to play – and he was a lot of fun." Though it sounded innocent enough the use of the word fun sent a shudder down Jeremy's spine, it was disconcerting to be told he had behaved in a certain way.

The door flung open casting sunlight and a male was framed in silhouette and Jeremy felt his heart soar as he hoped that it might be Stefan coming to rescue him, when another Vampire, a blonde entered it sank lower than it had been before. The Vampire crossed to Jeremy and grabbed him coarsely by the face, forcing his head to the right so he could see the fang-marks, Jeremy felt the Vampire touch at them and then felt him get up and cross the room to Toby. Toby was taller than the other Vampire and a little older.

"I see you had fun." Adrian quipped, darting a glance toward Jeremy.

"It is what he asked." Toby reminded.

Adrian nodded, "We got a contact – we can expect another two tonight." Toby nodded as though what Adrian had said carried a particular weight, Jeremy frowned – he was trapped with two Vampires and they knew things about him that no-one else knew. He looked up at the ceiling hopelessly and flopped back onto the bed – defeated.

. . .

Bonnie braced herself, summoning her spells around her defensively and deflecting the introductory hexes that the Warlock sent her way as she approached him, she could feel his power radiating outward – he was strong magically but she felt assured as long as she kept up her shield, she drew up slightly short of him, surveying him to try and assure herself that she was safe. She stood her legs shoulder-width apart, her hands at her side – loose, ready to knock him down if he tried anything. He looked at her and she thought she saw him smile a little.

"I see I'm not going to be able to get the drop on you a second time." He murmured, "I imagine you know by now that I'm a Stewart – my name's Quentin, and I know exactly who you are, _Bonnie_." She didn't want to quiz him as to how he knew her name but presumably he had his sources just as she had hers, she didn't loosen her stance anymore though, she simply widened her senses to take in all her surroundings and ensure he didn't have any friends coming to help them. "Oh please, I'm not going to duel you in broad daylight, especially not in the middle of the town – that would attract far too much attention. How did you find me by the way?"

Bonnie iced over her expression, "A Raven showed me the way."

Quentin nodded sagely, "I suppose you have a lot of questions for me?"

"A few," she answered elusively, "like why you're family are carrying on this feud generations after it started – if we worked together I'm sure we could lift the curse that was placed on your family." Bonnie suggested warmly, almost allowing herself to break into the smile before receiving a mocking crack of laughter and a look that read as if she'd just said the stupidest thing imaginable – to Bonnie's mind it seemed sensible, combined there powers might be able to overcome the original incantation.

"You really are naïve – it's a blood-curse Bonnie, one that passes down through generations, you can't break a curse like that, their designed to be unbreakable, that's why they are so deadly," he clued-up, talking to her as though she were in kindergarten, "besides the fact that it was a White Magic Curse," Bonnie gave him a quizzical look, "surely you know about White and Black Magic? White is superior to Black at least in some matters, such as curses like the one placed on my family, Black Magic draws on everything evil which is why it can't undo evil, it can only inflict it, White Magic draws on light which is why it can combat evil but cannot reverse its effects once inflicted. I'll admit Bonnie that what my family did was wrong in Salem but the Bennett's are the ones who escalated it with that act – that was overkill."

Bonnie paused as she tried to consider it, she couldn't really defend her family honour over something like this but nor could she admit that the Stewart's were blameless in this, "So you want to kill me?"

"My mother gave birth to triplets," he deflected, "she was the first Stewart woman to do so, she didn't even get to hold us in her arms before she died, my father raised us until he was killed…when we were young, we had our powers unlocked when we were in Salem by someone…needless to say from what we know from our history and from what we need to do that yes Bonnie, it is my intention to kill you, to avenge my mother – but not yet."

"Well thanks," she replied sarcastically, "who are you working for – you said that you need to kill me, besides acting on our shared history – what do you mean?"

Quentin grinned at her and Bonnie felt her stomach turn uneasily, she summoned her powers further, preparing to pre-emptively strike at him but she stopped as he looked her in the eye and his smile subsided.

"It'll all become clear in time Bonnie, that's all that you need to concern yourself with," he said as he walked past her, heading toward one of the General Stores, "and Bonnie," he stopped walking for a moment, "watch your back, we'll duel again."

She watched him go as he walked away and dwelt upon his words – he was working with someone and she didn't know why, but he also intended to kill her – and since he'd mentioned he had triplets he was presumably with at least two others, which meant that they in theory outnumbered her. However she had the power of a hundred deceased Witches at her fingertips – something they didn't know about, and she also had for a limited time at least the knowledge of her Grams and Emily to draw upon, at least as long as she continued to see them.

. . .

Alaric stood at the edge of the bedroom as Elena circled the bed for the fourth time, feeling underneath the pillows, searching fruitlessly under the mattress and rummaging in the draws as if she was vainly hoping to find a notebook labelled "My Cult" and discover that he'd run away and joined a Cult that sacrificed Goats to Pagan Gods, though he reminded himself that was probably a better alternative than the one being proposed toward them at present – that Adrian had taken Jeremy, though Alaric doubted that, he had no reason to take Jeremy as a hostage if he was interested in Elena, there was no need to force her into it when he could just go directly to her and kidnap her outright, without the need for the messy business of hostage negotiations.

"Elena I'm afraid you aren't going to find any clues here – Jeremy left her of his own volition, he was probably bored," Alaric mused aloud, keeping his voice sensitive to avoid upsetting her, he could tell Elena was holding back a rising amount of panic building within her, "look we should call Stefan and he can help us track down Jeremy, because at the moment we don't know where to look – maybe Tyler too, if his senses are as…advanced as they seem he can probably track him just as well if not better than Stefan."

Elena shook her head, "Alaric…when you studied Mystic Falls…when you were trying to find out about Isobel…and what happened to her – did you ever find any references to a darkness…something evil that was tied to the Gilbert's?"

"Like a prophecy?" he enquired, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Not exactly…well sort of…more like a shared myth or legend…something happened yesterday that just…have you read anything about it?" Elena probed pensively.

Alaric frowned, "It's not exactly a prophecy about darkness but it's an account that I came across the belonged to one of the servants of the Forbes's in 1864, around the time that the Church Vampires were killed, people did die in that Church fire Elena, and Jonathan Gilbert was responsible – you've been brought up with the idea that there were only Five Founding Families but…have you ever heard of a Sixth Family?"

Elena's brow furrowed in confusion, "Alaric what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that…that there was a cover up orchestrated by the Founding Families that has been forgotten, the Johnson's were harbouring a dark secret Elena, something darker than you can even imagine – I wish I could tell you what it was but the Servant wasn't exactly privy to the intimate conversations…but regardless in 1864 an entire family were wiped out and stricken from records, the family disappeared from all recorded town history, their land became a part of the Lockwood Estate and their Servant's became members of the Gilbert Household. They were killed in cold blood." Alaric clarified gravely.

"But why haven't Stefan or Damon told me?" Elena demanded.

Alaric bit his lip momentarily, "I wish I could say it was because they didn't know Elena, that they'd been conditioned to forget it Elena, but did you ever consider that they haven't told you everything that ever happened in their lives?"

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 4,

Acrobat,

Reviews welcome,

X


	5. Chapter 5

**The Vampire Diaries**

. . .

_1864_

The oil lamps dimly lit the Study, the Dinner Party continued blissfully unaware beyond the four wooden walls which was perfect, the Vampires – presuming that they were in attendance, which was a sensible presumption – would be unawares as long as the mundane gathering continued, a distraction which would allow them time to discuss things – albeit at a much reduced size. Giuseppe shut the door behind them but neglected to look it – no need to be overly cautious, they were safe within the House, none of the Vampires were stupid enough to attract attention to themselves at such a public event.

"What news do you have Jonathan?" prompted Benjamin Lockwood – the Mayor was always uneasy in everything supernatural, especially concerning the growing Vampire menace, first it had been believed to be limited to four or five but the image was changing all the time: for the worse, and that had left Benjamin touchy, he always seemed on edge and the stress showed in his face, he looked weary and bore deep bags under his eyes evidenced of late nights at the Town Hall struggling to grapple with the nature of the crisis.

Jonathan's mouth turned down at the corners, he looked grave.

"I do not like it," he admitted grimly, "but there are certainly more of them moving in our circles, I am not sure how they move in the daylight yet but they are doing so – they have not infiltrated the upper-echelons as yet but it cannot be long, they will want as much information as possible, we can safely expect that some of the clerks may have fallen prey to their influence."

Benjamin nodded slowly, "What can be done?"

"I believe I have developed or at least laid the foundations for a device to detect them, with your blessing I should like to press ahead with it and use it to find them, it is my honest belief that until Mystic Falls is rid of this scourge then we cannot sleep safely in our bed, they are becoming bolder Mayor Lockwood, it will not be long until the hole town has fallen under their sway." Jonathan clued-up honestly – there was no point in avoiding the pressing issues of the day, none of them could deny that at present the townspeople were virtually defenceless.

"It is best that I return to the Party so as not to attract attention," Lockwood admitted, "press ahead with your efforts Jonathan, our salvation may rest upon it." He bowed to them both and ducked out of the room leaving the two men alone, Giuseppe crossed the room and poured himself a Whiskey, handing one to Jonathan who sipped at his and looked out the window into the night, Giuseppe regarded him closely, looking him up and down – the man was fidgety: he continued to play with the pockets in his trousers, and nervous.

"How did you come by the idea for this device Jonathan?" he probed inquisitively, though he already knew the answer.

"It is simple science, even the supernatural can be explained my modern schooling Mr Salvatore, it is merely a question of application." He assured confidently, almost convincingly were it not for his failure to make eye contact throughout his entire reply.

"You're lying," Giuseppe called out, sipping at his drink, "you've been lying to everyone for a long time, you're involved with Emily Bennett – she has something of the night about her, I know your secret Jonathan, the one that your family is so desperate to hide – I know the darkness that lies at your core, you think that Emily can help you but she cannot, she can only delay what is already coming – Lockwood might be too foolish to see it but I can, you are as dangerous as the Vampires."

Gilbert shook his head vigorously.

"I am not the only one with a secret Giuseppe – your sons are in love with Katherine Pierce are they not," Giuseppe nodded intrigued and worried at the reference to Pierce, "I suspect her to be one of the ringleaders of the Vampires, which makes your sons accessories, I do not think with the hysteria simmering underneath that they would be spared if I were to point out this liaison? How simple it would be to have Damon and Stefan killed in the roundup?"

"You wouldn't dare." Giuseppe called-out boldly, though in reality he had felt his heart start hammering in his chest.

Gilbert idled from side to side and then strengthened his position.

"All I am asking is that you keep my secret and that I keep yours Giuseppe, no-one need know the truth of what is happening to me…or to your sons, we can keep this between you – our town is founded upon secrets, what is one more?" Gilbert asked but stopped dead as a floorboard creaked beyond the room, Giuseppe pulled open the door but there was no-one there: the floor was deserted.

. . .

_The present_

Stefan paused as he stepped out of the shower, midway through wrapping the towel around his midsection, he finished wrapping it and stepped out of the bathroom, turning at the creak of the floorboard and following the sound to the left, only to be grabbed and pinned against the wall by Damon whose face was creased with anger, his fangs bared and his anger radiating outward towards his younger brother. He relented and returned to normal, crossing the room and pouring himself a scotch from one of the carafes on the dresser.

He sipped at it as Stefan regarded him with confusion.

"Saw Katherine – found herself a new husband, I imagine he'll last a couple more weeks before he dies and she inherits a fortune: whoever said that Vampires had to keep a low profile anyway?" he joked sarcastically, his voice barely describing the acidity bubbling underneath his otherwise deceptively serene composure.

"And why would you see her?" Stefan asked, already uncomfortable due to lack of clothing but unwilling to make for the bathroom in case he received the slammed-against-wall treatment again.

He shrugged, "I need information on Adrian – and I knew _you_ wouldn't have anything more, Katherine is one of our oldest acquaintances, I just figured she might know who he was," Damon let out an unsettling laugh, "she said the strangest thing actually Stefan, she said that I should ask you – so, care to elaborate?"

"I've never seen him before in my life," Stefan deflected, moving swiftly for the bathroom but being halted midway by Damon who stood in the doorway to the bathroom, fangs on display once more, Stefan relented and moved back to the centre of the room, he sighed, "or rather I haven't seen him in a long time, that was why I didn't make the connection until I met him and…since then I've been a little…on edge, which is why I didn't give anything away."

Damon snarled as he pinned his younger brother against the wall, ripped a piece of the dresser of and plunged it into his brother's abdomen, making care to pierce the ribcage put avoid the heart, retracting it and allowing him to slump to the floor – normally he wouldn't have reacted so violently but Stefan had been both idiotic and also negligent – he'd put Elena, and by default anyone else affected by them in danger, he had information they could use and he had withheld it from them, for that he needed punishing, Stefan groaned as he clutched at his wound but Damon ignored it – sympathy had never been his strong suit, "So how do you know him?" he crouched down on the floor beside his brother.

Stefan coughed a few times.

"I had a relapse…in the 1950s, I was living in San Francisco at the time and I fed on a girl I met at a bar, then her sister…things…spiralled out of control, by the end of '52 I was feeding multiple times a day…and then I met a Vampire," he said, allowing his mind to drift back to the 50s and the enduring memories he'd had of the era, it was a time of growing freedom for young people, of course that growing freedom had made people stupid and had enabled him to make easier kills, people had accidents, things were easily explained as overdoses or alcohol poisoning, "he was older than me and his name was Toby, he could offer me shelter and helped me curb my habit and control it.

"I lived with him for about six years, and occasionally I met his brother Adrian who was younger than him but older than I was…we would hunt together, they were a little more _open-minded_ than I was but I didn't care, I was living some of the best days of my life," he confessed honestly, it was a mostly fondly remembered period in his life, he'd loved hunting in a pack, the thrill of the chase, especially working with the other brothers, in a way it almost reminded him of Damon, and that had been part of the reason he'd thrown caution to the wind, "but eventually I realized that Toby had feelings for me…that I didn't reciprocate." Damon regarded him with wide eyes, the anger was gone – replaced with fascination.

Stefan shrugged, "I had to get out of there so I decided to leave, I came to the only place that I knew – Mystic Falls…I kept a low profile but…they found me, I was in the woods and they would have killed me…if it wasn't for chance…they'd already wounded me and I would have died if they'd staked me again…but the brothers were over-confident, they left me in the woods and they sought out the townspeople. A woman, a teenager then came to help me, she knew what I was if not who I was – it was Sheila Bennett Damon, unfortunately she didn't move me fast enough so…she had to use her powers to keep Adrian and Toby away. She cast some kind of banishing spell…it was powerful magic, it broke a talisman she was wearing it was that powerful. I guess the spell expired when she died and they just chose to come back now that things are over…they're using Elena to get revenge on me."

The floorboard outside the bedroom creaked and Elena pushed it open frowning, her eyes were watery and puffy – she wasn't yet crying but she didn't seem to be far away, Stefan got to his feet – the wound was healed now and crossed the room to her, attempting to embrace her but she pushed him away, Damon didn't move – he was receiving the same glare.

"Jeremy's gone," she said, her composure breaking and her tears beginning to cascade down her face, "and it all comes back to 1864 – like it always does," she said, laughing ironically at herself before breaking into sobbing, Stefan tried to embrace her once more but she shook it off screaming at her, "I don't want any excuses or any lies or any deflections from either of you – who the hell are the Johnson Family and what do they have to do with Jeremy?"

. . .

"Sorry, Elena kinda…took off," Alaric admitted, "maybe I should've handled it better."

Bonnie shook her head, "It's between her and Stefan now, all you did was tell her the truth, do you have some of his clothes ready?" Bonnie was keeping worry at the back of her head as she focused on the task in hand, she needed to seek out Jeremy, she needed to find him and make sure he was safe, that was a priority, worrying about whether he was still alive or what had happened to him wouldn't help anyone. She needed to do this for Elena as well; she had too much going on in her life without having to think about her brother. Bonnie lit the last few candles in a circle and settled in the centre of the room as Alaric handed her some clothes, standing back from the circle to watch her as she set to work.

She understood locator spells well enough now that she could recite them from memory, she placed her hand over the map and began the first incantation slowly, closing herself off and opening herself fully to her powers, allowing the magic to flow through her as she searched for Jeremy, she began widening the search of Mystic Falls, allowing the spell to flow outward from Elena's House and then away from her neighbourhood, toward the centre of the town and beyond, allowing it to widen and widen until she opened her eyes and stifled a cry in her throat, the candles rose high and then flickered feebly, dying as one and allowing smoke to trail away into the sky, Alaric crossed the room and crouched beside her – panicked.

"Bonnie? Bonnie what is it, what's wrong?"

She shook her head and held back the tears – she would be resolute for his sake, she had to be.

"I can't find him." She stood up and crossed the room to the window, folding her arms as she looked out at the street, Alaric stood up behind her trying to comprehend it, a locator spell had never failed yet, she had all the right tools she had cast the spell properly – Bonnie didn't make mistakes – it was all perfect. "I cast the spell properly, it worked unimpeded – there wasn't even any magical safeguards like I thought there would be…I just…can't find him."

"What does that mean – is he dead?" Alaric enquired.

Bonnie shook her head, "If he was dead the spell wouldn't have worked," she paused as she thought back to her Grams words and turned to face Alaric, her face curling down at the sides and her expression grave, "for a locator spell to work it means that a part of Jeremy has to exist somewhere, so he is at least alive…or in part…Alaric do you remember when Klaus took you over?"

"Yeah it was like my body has been snatched away, like there was another voice in my head that was far more powerful," he recalled grimly, "Bonnie has Jeremy been possessed, is that what you're trying to say?"

She shook her head once more, she allowed herself a single tear to trace her face and then stifled all further tears, "I'm afraid he's in transition, if any part of Jeremy exists at this point in time it will very soon be gone altogether, he's changing…into something else entirely – not a Werewolf or a Vampire – and for a time he might still appear for all intents and purposes to be Jeremy, but there is a reckoning coming Alaric…a darkness returning, something I don't understand or even comprehend but something that relates to Jeremy."

"And to 1864," Alaric nodded in agreement, "it's somehow all connected…my research around Isobel always pointed to something like this, there were always tales in the Diaries that never added up with one another or things that I thought were fiction, but there was one strand that for a couple of months in each of the Diaries match up, they talk of a Raven – a metaphor for some kind of darkness, they said that once the Ravens came to roost that darkness would fall."

. . .

Caroline opened the door and put her key in the ignition, starting the engine and then screamed loudly as she spotted Tyler in the backseat, if she'd been human her heart would have been hammering but with everything Katherine had told her and learning about Jeremy going missing her senses hadn't been prowling for any possible Werewolves lurking in and about her car – not that she normally did. She turned around to look at him, annoyed but he remained equally stony faced, he got out of the back seat and moved to sit in the passenger seat beside her, she drove off – ignoring him in the seat beside her.

"You've been ignoring me." He stated.

"I've been busy," she said, turning left at the crossroad, "I've had things on my mind Tyler."

"Things like Matt?" that comment cut right to her core. She had in a way been obsessing over Matt – not in a creepy way like going to the Grill every night to see if he was there or if she could catch his attention, more in a way of dwelling on old memories. She'd been looking through all their photos together, wishing that things could go back to the way they were, she'd half considered cutting herself off from the hurt and from her emotions – half considered stopping crying, but she hadn't been able to focus enough to switch it off and just detach herself from life. How was it fair that he could just stay apart from her when she needed him? Hadn't she been there for him in his darkest hour? Well truthfully she hadn't, which was why it stung even more now.

She didn't look at Tyler as she looked ahead down the road, "I miss him."

"It's hard for him," Tyler admitted maturely, Caroline was surprised, she had suspected Tyler to try and make another dig at her, try and make it seem as if she was being irrational and that she belonged with a supernatural like him, instead of with Matt who couldn't grasp the concept of dating a Vampire and the fact that Caroline remained the same person, "hell it was hard for me Caroline and I'm a fricking Werewolf."

She shrugged as she switched on her indicator, she drew up at Elena's house and switched of the engine, waiting for silence to settle a little bit before saying what she had to say, it would probably hurt him but it needed saying, she couldn't just pretend as if she felt differently to make him feel better: that wouldn't be fair, "Tyler…look I care about you a lot, and I mean that sincerely, I will help you each time you turn, I will help you get ready each time and I will help you pick up the pieces after you have turned, I can help you talk about your secrets and I you can confide in me, but at this point in time we can't be anything more than friends. You're probably right in thinking that Matt will never get back with me and I'm probably deluding myself to think he'll ever accept me as a Vampire, but I have to try…I have to try Tyler."

He nodded knowingly and then opened the door, stepping out, Tyler moved round to her side in the blink of an eye, working with her toward the porch of the House and then the two stopped as he felt Caroline stiffen beside him – and then he saw why, his dark, handsome uncle Mason stepped down from the porch and moved to stand beside them, "Hello Caroline, Tyler." He greeted.

"What do you want?" Tyler asked, bracing to jump at his Uncle and protect Caroline if need be, she might not reciprocate his feelings yet but someday she would, when she accepted the inevitable and then they could be together, even if his dead relatives couldn't accept that, Caroline didn't seem scared by the presence of Mason, just aggressively disposed against him, ready to tear him limb from limb if need be, even if he was already dead one time over.

"To say sorry Tyler, for what's about to happen." Mason turned toward Caroline and Tyler tried to run towards her but was hurled back, slumping on the grass as flames crept up, licking around the base of her legs before moving up her body, Caroline screamed and yelled and Bonnie and Alaric emerged from the porch. Bonnie rushed off a water incantation but it was too late as the flames, morphing from a lava-colour to an indigo-blue type absorbed her body and then left no trace off her, Bonnie ran up to Mason squaring up to him but he simply frowned and faded away before her eyes. Bonnie cried out as she dropped to the floor beside where Caroline had been standing on the pathway, there wasn't even a scorch mark to show what had happened: Caroline was dead.

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 5,

6 up soon,

Acrobat

X


	6. Chapter 6

**The Vampire Diaries**

The ground was cold and hard but it was at least real, and she didn't feel as though she had any burns or cuts to speak off – which was satisfying at least in that she was sure she wasn't dead, or at least she hadn't died; not yet anyway. She was in the middle of the woods, or at least what she thought were the woods she looked down at her clothes and then frowned, she was wearing an antiquated frock and then touched her sides, her ribcage had been compressed, and her chest tightened, she was, she deduced wearing a corset. She cast her head around and found herself face to face with Emily Bennett and scrambled backward on the ground.

"Be calm," she motioned with her hand, "you are not dead Caroline, your body is in transition, you are neither in _your world_ nor in the spirit world, it has been determined that you have actions to undertake here that will shape the future, for the better or the worse," Emily offered her hand and Caroline took it, standing up, "I hope that your garments are to your liking, they were all that I could procure from Katherine's things at such short notice."

"Emily," Caroline took a deep breath – the air tasted musty, like the air in the woods that she knew but it was somehow subtly different she though she could detect a hint of soot in the air, as though there were fires being burned somewhere, "where am I?" Emily immediately began moving swiftly, lifting her dress to although her easier movement, Caroline copied the motion but continued thinking over the question in her head, they way Emily had said your world had not implied that she was coming from the world of the living, rather it had implied that time might have been more appropriate than world, "Emily have I travelled back in time?" she realized how ridiculous it sounded but Emily merely turned around momentarily and grimly frowned. Eventually a Manor loomed out of the Woods – Katherine's home Caroline presumed as Emily conducted her through the door and through the hallway into a drawing room, Caroline paused momentarily as she spotted Katherine and the elder Vampire regarded her, strolling around her and fixing her eyes upon her.

Katherine let loose a cackle, "So this is the girl that you think can solve our problems Emily," Katherine grabbed Caroline by the chin and scrutinized her, had she been a human she would have been searching for a suitable artery to puncture, "I wish I had your faith, unfortunately I shall have to trust in her – does she know what she is involving herself in?"

"Not really actually," Caroline said surprising herself with her boldness, "Emily you never answered my question where am I?"

"Mystic Falls Miss Forbes, 1864." In the blink of an eye Caroline found herself pinned against the world with Katherine snarling in her face, she instantly understood why it had triggered the reaction, the use of her surname Forbes, it being 1864 Katherine was well aware that the Founding Families – including the Forbes were plotting against her though unaware of an impending attack, Caroline reminded herself to not let slip that little gem in case she accidentally erased herself from history, "Though she is a Forbes Miss Katherine she is here to help," Emily reminded and Katherine released her grip, "though you are here Caroline you must not be afraid, this is only temporary we merely had to give you the appearance of having died to assist you in arriving here undetected. Unfortunately I fear that your arrival will not go unnoticed amongst others, especially with the name of Forbes."

Caroline frowned in confusion, "What exactly am I here to do?"

Katherine let out a hopeless laugh, "Perfect Emily you've found me a girl who doesn't even know what she has to do here – the Founding Families are hiding something and its about Jonathan Gilbert," Katherine stalked around the room, pacing toward the mantelpiece and looking directly into the clock, "you see I've always been wary of him, at first I thought it was because he had an unhealthy interest in the supernatural but its since emerged that I was sensing something about him. There is an ancient fable that has been passed down through the generations about a man who transforms into a beast – a Demon," Katherine turned around and grinned, flashing her fangs for dramatic effect, "but this Demon is at the same time blessed with gifts – it has the ability to kill Vampires and Werewolves and Witches alike."

"And you think Jonathan Gilbert is this demon?" Caroline probed, her thoughts still a little muddled as to the real purpose of her mission here, "How did you even find me?"

"That is not important," Katherine cut-off, firing an icy glance at Emily who remained silent at Katherine's discretion, "and yes, though he has not allowed it to overtake him many times one of our number was very nearly killed a week ago by such a creature – but I would like to be sure and know what it is I am dealing with, so I have arranged you a way into that circle, it will mutually benefit the both of us to know all that we can about Jonathan, how he triggers his other self, how long he has been turning, how much the other Families actually know." Katherine grinned as the bell rang on cue and Emily shuffled past to answer it, she returned a second later with a handsome gentleman a few steps behind her.

"So this is the girl you've been telling me about Miss Katherine?" the man murmured, bowing politely, Katherine curtsied and Caroline copied, "She is quite charming."

"George Lockwood may I present Miss Caroline Robert, she is looking forward to accompanying you to the Salvatore Dinner tonight, be sure to introduce her to the right people – she is anxious to make friends here in Mystic Falls." Katherine confided falsely, carrying of the lie effortlessly.

George grinned, "Do not worry; I shall attend to her every _whim_." The emphasis of whim sent a shiver down Caroline's spine as she realized exactly what George wanted in return for his services.

. . .

"Are you sure about this?" Tyler asked as they drew up at the House on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, Bonnie had been able to find the Witches with little effort although Tyler had been suitably protective over her to come with her, she was in shock over Caroline's seeming death and he was worried she was acting too quickly, Caroline would have wanted him to look after her until she had stabilized, and so he would carry out that duty, even if she might not have thanked him for it where she still alive. He was bottling up his own feelings, he had mastered it in learning to control his anger toward his father and he could control his feelings of loss over Caroline until he got somewhere safe. They stepped out of the car and Tyler was instantly aware of three presences on the porch of the House – a tall brunette boy – Quentin the one Bonnie had told him about, flanked by a girl with flowing blonde hair to the left and another boy to the right, broader-shouldered and more hard-edged than the central guy with a shock of hawthorn hair with a fringe slicing across his forehead.

"You brought your pet with you?" Quentin mocked drily as Bonnie approached but she batted away his feeble greeting hex and intensified a shield around her and Tyler with minimum of effort, none of their spells could penetrate it – she was confident, she had looked through some of the older Grimoire's for a more powerful shield spell, she could add more layers still if necessary but for the time being the same charm would suffice.

"I want some answers," she said, surprising herself with the strength of her voice considering the loss of Caroline, "and I want them now."

The girl let out a laugh, "Why should we help you – besides we could kill you any time." Bonnie wasn't going to waste time and exerted a modicum of effort on the girl, breaking through her thin shield and causing her to cry out and touch at her head, falling to the ground in pain and then glaring at Bonnie as she relented and allowed her to regain her footing.

"If you were going to you'd have done it by now," Bonnie retorted indignantly, "it's obvious that you aren't here serving out some ancient blood-feud, it's a nice cover but if you were really here for that I'd already be dead, your working for someone – who?"

Quentin frowned, "You'd better come inside," Bonnie reluctantly stepped forward following them into the House and sitting on the couch with Tyler at her side as the Stewart's arranged themselves around the room, the other boy taking one of the armchairs, the girl the other and Quentin taking the middle, "this is my brother Blake and my sister Daphne, the reason we're here is because of what happened to our family but also because of the events of 1864.

"Jonathan Gilbert was hiding a secret, an ability that gave him mastery over Vampires, Werewolves and Witches, he could be consumed by a powerful Demon that could easily kill any of the three, the trait went dormant in 1864 although we don't know how, now the trait is set to reoccur in the Gilbert line and we're here both to stop that happening."

"Then why not work with us?" Tyler prompted.

"Because stopping isn't exactly what we're interested in," said Blake, rising to his feet and moving over, with a push of his hand he had slammed the door shut, "controlling is – and the guy we're working for wants power over this ability, and we need to work with him in order to manipulate him." Blake produced a blade and lunged at Tyler, jabbing it into his chest issuing a scream from Tyler, Bonnie immediately leapt to her feet, smashing Blake into the wall and knocking him out with a thud and then turning toward Quentin and Daphne. Daphne moved first and so Bonnie focused on her, lifting her off the ground and smashing her into the ceiling, allowing her to flop to the floor – unconscious like her brother. Quentin turned toward her grinning and flexed his hand, firing a spell towards her that Bonnie barely caught, she urged it back toward him but Quentin intensified his power and snarled, she saw him touch at his Silver Pendant and felt his magic intensify forcibly as he summoned the ancient power from it, forcing it back till Bonnie felt it pulsating around her hands, felt the darkness at the fringes of her person and then felt it overcome her, knocking her down to the floor, she tried to get up but felt all energy drain from her and dropped to the ground. Quentin grinned as the door flew open and he spotted Adrian who stalked around the room, surveying those incapacitated on the floor.

"You did well." He greeted, grabbing Quentin by the face and then smashing his head into the floor. The Witches and the Werewolf were taken care off, his Master would be pleased, then he groaned, he would have to move them all individually: at least the hard task of taking them down had been completed, all he had to do was ensure their delivery.

. . .

"Elena," Stefan said stepping toward her, "just calm down – you're upset but just take a few deep breaths and tell us what it is you want to know." Elena shrank away from his advances screaming at him as he reached out to touch her, Damon moved too but she batted away his hand as well, fixing them both with a glare of deepest loathing, her eyes filled with a fury that neither of the Salvatores had ever seen her possessed off before.

"Jeremy is missing," Elena snarled, "and it all has to do with my family's history and Jonathan Gilbert and what happened in 1864 – even after all this time you had to keep something back from me, I trusted you both and you just threw it back in my face," Stefan stepped towards her but she pushed him back again, "tell me what happened, now, the truth or I swear to god I will walk out that door and I will never talk to either of you again."

Damon looked at Stefan and Stefan nodded, giving his assent for Damon to take the lead.

"We were never exactly included in the talks between our father and Jonathan Gilbert…because they knew that we were sleeping with Katherine," Damon admitted earnestly, remembering his long forgotten frustration at being unable to provide Katherine with more information, he had hoped that if he found anything out and gave it to her she would finally choose him over Stefan, how naïve he had been, "but what we do know is that Jonathan Gilbert was a shape-shifter…or something like that anyway. Our father was never actually sure what triggered the change but at some points he would become a monster, a Demon, a few weeks before the round-up Anna was attacked by a beast in the woods, she described the beast as Demonic, but somehow she had known that it was Jonathan and it had known she was a Vampire."

"Our father could never raise the issue because Gilbert threatened to have us killed in the round-up," Stefan added, his face creasing as he frowned deeply, "the Lockwood's knew too but Gilbert knew they were lycanthropes, so he is secret remained like that. Gilbert's power wasn't specific too him, at least not then, there are stories that are passed around certain circles about a dark power, something that was Demonic and at the same time Angelic, the power was innately evil but it also had the power to destroy supernaturals or evil, like Witches, Werewolves or Vampires. It also combined something of the three powers."

Damon nodded, "Emily knew Gilbert was somehow supernatural because her magic was less effective than him than on others. Long story short."

"So what does this have to do with Johnson's?" Elena demanded.

The brothers shrugged as one.

"I'm not entirely sure," Stefan lead, "when we…_died_ they were in Mystic Falls, when we returned they were gone."

"I know a little more," Damon admitted, looking Elena straight in the eye, "the day after I completed my transition by drinking blood I saw one of the daughters, the youngest – they were a family of seven – Olivia, I was too preoccupied with rescuing Katherine and finding out what had happened to care about anyone else but I remember seeing her…she had this flowing blonde hair…and she was scared – I never saw her again."

"So what they were just wiped out off existence and no-one in Mystic Falls noticed?" Elena demanded firmly.

"Elena people fade out of existence all the time and nobody notices – no-one noticed that the Town Vampires were gone because they knew ignoring it was what was good for them, the Johnson's must have just disappeared at the same time…that's all we know." Stefan confessed truthfully, he hated seeing her angry at him, but he also knew she had a right to be angry with him, they had concealed things about her family from her but it had been because it didn't seem important, until now. Things never did become important until you realized how critical they were in your life, and they had a habit of doing that only after everything was turned upside down.

. . .

The old Manor House was dilapidated and probably dated from the Civil War, shutters hung off their hinges and the windows were all smashed, their frames snapped at jaunty angles, the entire place dark and deserted with a certain gloomy aura to the place which was only exacerbated by its gothic features. Adrian hovered at the stairs up from the cellar, it was a vast place and he hovered near the lamp, it was probably more similar to catacombs than a recognizable basement. The werewolf was awake and had been glaring at him for about an hour but not saying anything, only groaning slightly whenever Adrian brushed him with wolfs-bane, the Witches too were awake but Adrian had rendered their magic useless thanks to the Pendant he had plucked from the lead Stewart. There was also another odour though he couldn't define what its particular perfume was, it was distinctive though and he could somehow remember it.

He turned toward the darkness as some of the gas-lamps flickered into life, illuminating the damp interior, highlighting the moisture on the wall as Adrian laid his eyes upon Jeremy standing a few meters apart from them, but he was somehow different though Adrian couldn't define why and then he picked it out, Jeremy's eyes had turned cerulean-coloured, a bright-blue and his lips were somehow redder, as though he'd drunk a glass of our wine or eaten strawberries. He was also less lanky and more defined now with a more naturally masculine body.

Jeremy motioned with his hand and Adrian braced as a body dropped from the ceiling, it shook as it dropped to the floor and Jeremy rolled it over with a simple gesture of his hand and he bent down – Adrian now recognized it as Toby, the smell belonging to blood as he was covered in cuts across his body, Jeremy stroked at Toby's face affectionately and Adrian saw fear flash across his eyes as Jeremy bent down and kissed him tenderly on the lips, he stood up and then Adrian watched as death flooded through Toby's body until he lay an emaciated corpse on the floor. He turned and ran but with a rush of air he realized Jeremy had moved faster as he stepped down one step at a time toward Adrian, menacingly.

Jeremy moved close to Adrian and grinned.

"You took me and thought you could use me for your own sick, twisted games," Jeremy said, flicking his finger and sending Adrian flying across the basement till he smashed into the wall, his head cracking as he slumped on the ground, Jeremy bent down and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, throwing him across the room, "well now I get to have my fun." He bent down and performed the same kiss-of-death he had on Toby. Adrian groaned as death swept through his own body, Jeremy turned around as he heard a cry from Bonnie and grinned at her.

"Jeremy…what have you become?" she asked.

"Snap out of it Gilbert." Tyler motioned.

Jeremy sniggered, "You think I'm being compelled? How naïve." He turned toward the darkness as two figures stepped forward.

"Lucy our guests seem tired, perhaps they should rest?" Bonnie looked into the dark eyes of her relative as her world was plunged into darkness and she felt the unrelenting urge to enter into a deep, long sleep.

. . .

Hope you liked Chapter 6,

7 up in the near future,

Reviews welcome,

Acrobat xx


	7. Chapter 7

**The Vampire Diaries**

. . .

She could not distinguish whether it was fear or anticipation which was dominating her but she had somehow calmed herself down and was carrying herself off with what she presumed was the grace of the period, certainly she was sure that George approved, he had tried it on with her, five times in the carriage on the way over and she had resisted his advances though she wasn't sure whether that had been the right course of action since he now seemed ravenous with desire. The Salvatore House loomed out of the darkness, its windows ablaze with a lively, extravagant party, George ran round to her side to grab her gloved hand as she stepped down to the carriage and the two walked briskly towards the house. Two servants opened the doors for them and George grinned as he shook hands with one of his friends and Caroline tried to disguise recognition in her face.

His hair might have been parted to either side and older in fashion but the killer cheekbones and prominent chin were evident enough – she was looking at a young Stefan Salvatore – he smiled at her awkwardly and George laughed, "Stefan Salvatore this is Caroline Roberts," Caroline realized there must be some etiquette and so performed a quick curtsey and Stefan bowed in response, "she is a new lady in town, looking for a suitable bachelor." Stefan nodded knowingly and Caroline performed the same blanking technique on recognition of Damon as he swept by, his hair curled though he did not halt to greet her as Stefan had.

"Delighted to make your acquaintance," Caroline said hoping her language didn't sound to incongruous although Stefan simply smiled politely, "this is a beautiful house, has it been in your family long?" she groaned inwardly at how ridiculous her question had been, it was their family house, it had probably been built for centuries.

"Only for a little while, if you'd excuse me I must attend to some things." Stefan said, bowing eloquently and then departing, Caroline looked at George who merely smirked at her, she was quite sure he was about to lick his lips at her, clearly his desire for her was growing by the minute. She offered him her arm and he steered her into a drawing room where men were clustered in little rooms, drinking Scotch and discussing the typical things gentlemen did, there were only two that caught Caroline's eye – a diminutive man in a bowler hat whom she recognized as Jonathan Gilbert and a slightly stouter gentleman, the Salvatores father – Giuseppe. George did not show the slightest interest however, introducing her to a different gentlemen altogether whom Caroline found herself curtsying to despite not having even bothered to pay attention to what his name was, she focused back on the conversation however, having torn herself away from focusing on Giuseppe and Jonathan – the two who were of real interest to her.

"…William is one of the wealthiest men in town, his family have owned the largest plot of land for more than six generations," George clued-up, drawing Caroline back to his reality, "perhaps I'll introduce you to his children later, he has six daughters and a son – Alexander," George said with emphasis as a boy of about seventeen strode in, broad-shouldered and athletic with blonde hair and sparkling blonde hair, "one day he'll inherit a small fortune."

William gave a hearty laugh, "I'd hardly call my life's work a small fortune, the estate alone perhaps but not my entire savings, delighted to meet you Miss Roberts – I presume you're here looking for a husband, if you'd like my advice don't become to close to George here, he's something of a womaniser," William imparted and Caroline stifled a snigger, "you'd be far better suited to a man like Alexander here, he'd be faithful and make you quite happy."

"I'm sure," Caroline said, trying to sound as though she was entertaining the idea if only to put George off although he merely seemed intrigued by her tack so, rather than get herself deeper in with Alexander she focused on extracting information from William, "so are you close to Mr Salvatore and Mr Gilbert?" she said casting a glance toward the two men in the corner.

William shrugged, "We all sit on the Council as Founding Families but I would not call them men who I would spend time with, why do you ask? Ah I see," he said knowingly although Caroline failed to disguise her confusion as to what he was getting it, "if you are attracted by the idea of the influence they can bring you might I suggest you are talking to the wrong man, I hold little real influence over Mystic Falls – in fact I try to stay as far out of their affairs as possible," he turned toward his son, "Alexander perhaps we should go and find your mother, we have some things to discuss." Caroline and George nodded respectfully and the two Johnson's left, Caroline turned to George and smiled sweetly at him.

"Would you get us some drinks; it's quite stuffy in here." George nodded leaving her to focus upon a portrait – to prying eyes at least, in fact she was honing in on the conversation she'd been following in one way or another for the greater part of the previous conversation, she blocked out all others till she was simply focusing on Jonathan Gilbert and Giuseppe Salvatore.

"You would kill all of them?" Salvatore was saying as she eavesdropped in earnest.

"Certainly William and Alexander, I do not see a reason to leave the girls either, if the patriarch is tainted then so to should be the whole family, it needs to be comprehensive, besides what if one of the girls should see something and then tell the whole town?" Salvatore nodded acceptingly as though cold blooded-murder was necessary and understandable in the circumstances.

"Then we are agreed – who will we send to do it?" Giuseppe probed.

"Someone untraceable to either of us." Jonathan informed, although that snippet was all Caroline could glean as George returned looking even more pleased with himself than he had been before as he handed her a glass of wine, Caroline smiled at him and pondered on what she had discovered – all that she knew was that all the Johnson's were going to die and Giuseppe and Jonathan would be their murderers. And somehow she knew she had to stop them.

. . .

Alaric's head was all over the place, while he hadn't been particularly close to her he had still been moved by Caroline's apparent death, though he was more immediately concerned with Bonnie and Tyler having left to face the Stewart Witches alone, he had buried himself in his books to try and find something that could help them find out how to get Caroline back, or more about the darkness but the Gilbert Journals were deliberately vague in regard to any Demonic Presence in Mystic Falls in 1864 besides the Vampires of course.

He rose to his feet and gathered up his notes – the only useful information he had gleaned was that the beast could not be bound by a particular flora such as Vervain or Wolfsbane and that magic though effective against it could not bind it or hold it off indefinitely, which was exactly what had gotten him so panicked in the first place. He swung open the door and almost stopped dead as he walked back across the threshold as Isobel smiled up at him weakly, she cast her head across the pavement, looking directly at the spot where Caroline had died.

"So the first has died," she murmured in her curious detached tone that made Alaric feel cold every time he tried to think of the woman he had married, the voice was devoid of compassion – of the things that he had fallen in love with during their courtship, "Ric look you know I don't love you anymore, but it doesn't mean I don't care," she reached out and tentatively stroked at his face but he drew away stiffly, "I know I can't keep you hear Ric but please…just do, I don't want to see you die, and if you leave this house I can't be sure that you'll survive what's coming."

"I have to go," he dismissed vehemently, avoiding eye contact, "you don't get to decide what's right or wrong for me anymore Isobel, you haven't for a long time – I need to go and help Elena and Jeremy, and the others, it's what Jenna would have wanted."

"Are you so sure?" his head swung to left as his auburn haired deceased love crossed to join them.

"Jenna…I'm not even sure how you two are here but regardless you aren't going to stop me I have to save them, I have to stop whatever's going to happen…I have to try – besides I'm the most expendable," he reasoned logically, "I don't have any loved ones left and I don't have a life to live for anymore, now let me go." He moved past them and they parted to allow him to leave.

"You're too late Ric." Jenna called out as he got halfway down the path, he turned back to look at her, there were tears in her eyes. "I didn't realize that when I became their guardian they'd have so much hardship…I didn't realize how tragic Elena's life was going to me, I mean she's lost her adoptive parents, her real parents, she's lost me…now she's going to lose Jeremy, Ric there's no point in you getting yourself killed for something that's already hopeless."

"How is it hopeless?" Alaric enquired boldly, and Jenna turned to Isobel as though she was unwilling to reveal the truth to him.

"Jeremy has lost his pure spirit, the part of him that makes him untainted, that allows him to walk among the light like Elena or Stefan or Caroline," Isobel said calmly as though it made the most sense in the world even though Alaric wasn't even familiar with the terminology she was using, "he's been tainted…somehow by someone or something he has tasted from darkness's cup, it's easy to do but it's irreversible – now he'll become a beast like Jonathan Gilbert."

"I don't believe you," Alaric replied, turning his back on the woman and striding away, "it isn't possible, it can't be possible." He added under his breath as he ducked into his car and headed off into the night – he had to protect them, he had to get there in time. Though he wouldn't have admitted it to anyone he had promised himself that when Jenna died he would watch over Elena and Jeremy, they were mature for their age and had gone through more than any other normal teenager would face in their lifetime, but they were at the end of the day kids that needed protecting. And he was more equipped than most humans to protect them.

. . .

"You know," Tyler murmured, his voice clearly sounding pained in the darkness of the cellar, "I knew I'd wind up dying someday, I just didn't imagine that Gilbert would be the one to kill me," he looked towards Bonnie, she was sat on the floor frowning in frustration, "sorry…I know you guys are close…can't you just like crack the lock with a spell or something?"

"It isn't that simple," Bonnie dismissed, "Lucy Bennett is my cousin, she must have cast some kind of enchantment over this House – I might have the powers of a hundred deceased Witches at my disposal but she's…more powerful somehow…I don't even understand it. And as for Jeremy Tyler…he isn't himself…something's wrong…he's been possessed or consumed by a darkness, an evil – I don't understand it but…just know that he would never do something like this if he was acting rationally."

"You think?" Tyler asked sarcastically, he braced against his bonds and yowled in pain as the Wolfsbane burned against his skin, "What happened to your friends?"

Bonnie shrugged, "I guess I must have still been knocked out…I doubt we'll see them again though, if the Vampires are anything to go by – did you recognize the guy with Lucy and Jeremy?"

Tyler shook his head, "He was familiar from somewhere but I remember faces, I've never met the guy before but I feel like I know him somehow-"

"-on a different level, subconsciously," Bonnie reasoned aloud, "if only I had some candles and a Grimoire…we just have to stay focused – Elena and the others will find us, they have to come looking for us eventually, besides Alaric knows where we went, he'll figure it out," Bonnie focused on Tyler, the Wolfsbane was having a debilitating effect now, he was perspiring and shutting his eyes at ever more regular intervals, "Tyler…Tyler just stay with me, stay with me." Bonnie implored looking up into his eyes as his head lolled to one side and he fell unconscious.

"You must stay strong Bonnie," she heard her Grams call as the elder woman stepped out of the darkness toward her, she crossed the cellar quickly and bent down beside Bonnie, "you must focus – the spell your cousin placed on this house is tied to Bennett Genes – you have those same genes, if you focus you can manipulate the spell and break it and get yourself and your friend out of here."

"But…but I don't even know how to focus Grams, I don't have any candles or water or…I don't have anything to help me do this…not even a Grimoire," Bonnie said betraying a rising panic in her voice, she was beginning to allow the perceived hopelessness of the situation to overwhelm her, she took a deep breath and focused on the situation, drawing herself back to the cellar, focusing on Tyler as motivation to get them out of there, "what do I have to do?"

"Extend your senses Bonnie feel out for the earth beneath your feet, for the water in this cellar, surely you can feel the dampness of this place, focus," Bonnie closed her eyes and focused, allowing her hearing to spread out across the entire cellar, she could hear water trickling through the walls somewhere she focused upon it and then extended her touch to the floor, feeling for the ground and the roots of the trees she'd seen around the perimeter of the house, calling upon them to her, "that's right Bonnie – allow nature to help you." Bonnie tapped into her powers slowly, drawing them out so that the roots began rising towards the floor of the cellar and the water slowed until it began building, and then she simply released her cap, allowing the water to burst through the wall and the roots to smash through the floor of the building. She felt it – she had caused a distraction, that was all she needed, she leapt to her feet and extended a hand toward the lock at the door and heard it explode it off with a resounding snap, she sprinted across to Tyler and unbound his Wolfsbane-soaked bonds, allowing him to drop to the floor, she spread her hands across him and allowed healing to powers to flow from him. His eyes snapped awake and he stood up, mildly groggily and Bonnie wasted no time in sprinting for the door, the two of them sprang up the stairs and into the hallway and then stopped dead, Lucy stood in the hallway, not looking annoyed but somehow, in a twisted way she seemed impressed, her face fractured into a crooked smile.

Lucy grinned, "I'm glad that I have the measure of your abilities," she raised her hands and Bonnie felt the wave of energy a moment before it hit them as they bounced down the hallway – fortunately for her though unfortunately for Tyler he had taken the brunt of the blast and lay with his head smashed in against the wall, blood trickling down from it, Bonnie raised her hands and fired a return hex which Lucy caught though not without difficulties, gritting her teeth as she forced them to parity. At that point Bonnie recognized the third figure – Grams stood at the epicentre of it.

"What has it come to when Bennett Witches fight amongst themselves – there is a greater evil here that you are bound to defeat, Lucy you cannot stand by you must not-"

"-like you stood by and allowed the Vampires to fail in unleashing a group of bloodthirsty, revenge-seeking Vampires on this town – oh wait no you actively aided them and died in the attempt," Lucy spat acidly, still continuing an effective duel against Bonnie who braced as Lucy poured more of her energies into the duel, "now you are nothing but a spirit, and an old wizened one at that who is insignificant, all that you can do is appear to us and warn us and try to offer council – if you really believed in Bonnie as the future of this family then you would never have helped her and the Vampires in the attempt to release Katherine Pierce."

Bonnie was about to interrupt but paused as she saw something she had never seen in her Grandmother's face – fury. Cold-hearted, aggressive loathing, she watched as Sheila Bennett glowed an ethereal ivory colour and lifted a hand, flexing her hand outward and a spell of a power Bonnie could never have imagined shot outward from it, colliding with Lucy Bennett and hurling her backward through the door onto the grass, her Grams turned towards her and faltered dropping to the floor, Bonnie dropped beside her and tried to help her but her Grams raised a restraining hand.

"Bonnie," she whispered between breaths, "take your friend and run…run _now_."

. . .

Tyler was half-awake now, his legs were starting to help carry them as they sprinted through the woods, thankfully the Salvatore House loomed out of the darkness, lights glowing but Bonnie could instantly sense something was wrong. Her senses were not as attuned as others but she could tell that a darkness had passed through the woods, the power was intoxicating but at the same time repulsive, she steered Tyler, having to support him less and less toward the house, the front door was wide open and as they stepped across the threshold they could see the bookcase had been smashed over, books lay wildly strewn about the place. The coffee table was smashed and the carnage seemed the same across the entire house – there had been a fight.

Bonnie stiffened as she heard voices and moved through the house, Tyler now moving under his own steam, stalking slowly towards the kitchen, she paused at the perimeter and then breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized Alaric and Elena, then she paused – not Elena, Katherine. The doppelganger Vampire grinned at Bonnie warmly as she entered, followed slowly by Tyler who prompted a sniff of disgust from Katherine as she caught his odour.

"Hello Bonnie," she greeted mock warmly, "Tyler," the Werewolf stiffened at the pronouncement of his name, "oh come-on not pleased to see me? Ric here was."

Alaric leered at her, "They're gone," he stated simply referring to the Salvatores and Elena, "and according to Katherine it was Lucy Bennett." Bonnie extender her senses to the house around her and affirmed Katherine's suggestion – magic had been here she could feel it, though it didn't seem reminiscent of the familiar kind of Bennett magic she recognized of her Grams, it was darker – like the Stewart Magic, and then she recognized why, there wasn't a single type of magic either, it belonged to the three Stewart's as well as to Lucy – perhaps she had used them as conduits for her magic here while she watched guard over them? Perhaps she had lead them here.

"How does she know?" Tyler pressed, shooting Katherine looks that oozed mistrust.

"Because I saw it," Katherine answered for herself, "because I know what's coming because I lived through 1864, because I've seen this happen in Mystic Falls before – unfortunately this time I think it's a little too late, for _you_."

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 7,

Sorry about the slight delay,

Chapter 8 up soonish,

Reviews appreciated,

Acrobat

X


	8. Chapter 8

**The Vampire Diaries**

As Giuseppe Salvatore lay dying few thoughts passed through his head – his life was ebbing way from him too quickly for much clarity of thought, though he was certainly dominated by one emotion – pain. He felt such great sorrow for what had become of his sons – they had been intended to be his heirs, they would inherit his lands, marry and have children and vast families and continue the Salvatore name, they would help make Mystic Falls great again. But the Vampires had intervened and besmirched that particular ideal – they had made the thought of Mystic Falls being safe again with their continuing existence and impossibility. Giuseppe Salvatore had lost everything to the Vampires, not just his sons but his life in the end – and the cruel irony was that his favourite son, the one whom he had harboured true ambitions for – Stefan – had killed him in cold blood, and turned himself fully into a Vampire. It would not be long he suspected until Damon joined his younger brother and the two of them were committing horrific murders across the South, perhaps even moving further northward from Mystic Falls.

Giuseppe clutched at his side and then allowed rage to consume him, allowed that emotion to block out the main from the wound and then felt sudden warmth around him. The lights were blinding – the dull gas-lighting of the House could not give such vibrant illumination and then he recognized it, the pendant he had been given by Bennett – one of the servants of the Vampire whore that had corrupted his sons. She should have died if all things had gone his way the night of the round-up, but Jonathan would not countenance it – he harboured feelings for the girl…but there had always been something determinedly strange about her, something in her aura, in her personality that made Giuseppe uneasy; as he had been around Katherine in her last days.

The pendant itself had seemed harmless enough but now it seemed to be alive, it seemed to be calling him, he reached out and clasped it in his hand and felt it wash over him, rejuvenation, a feeling of unprecedented strength consumed him and he rose to his feet, his wound healed and feeling stronger than his years should have allowed, feeling like a man half his age. He looked beyond and did not falter when he caught sight of the spirit – he merely felt tears stinging at his eyes as he regarded his wife, so tragic, still wearing the blood that had cascaded from her at her death, still utterly mesmerising in her white lace dress. She looked at her husband kindly and crossed the room toward him.

"This was not your fault Giuseppe, you must not blame yourself."

"I shall not my sweet," he promised, pausing to regard his wife and then the pendant, "why have you come – is it owing to this thing?"

She nodded silently and then increased the distance between them, motioning for him to stay where he was, "That pendant contained but a small part of Jonathan's power, enough that Bennett could lay the remainder to rest, make it dormant, leave it to fester – you must ensure that the power is released once more in the Gilbert line."

"But those powers are unspeakably evil," Giuseppe protested reasonably, "they are of the Demon."

She nodded, "The question," she replied in her gentle French accent, "is whether turning away from the opportunity to protect the future is a greater negligence – a greater evil – than using these powers to provoke a reckoning that will see this world purged of evil once and for all. What will you do my darling?"

Giuseppe paused, "I shall follow your advice – what would you have me do?"

"You must wait until you find a Gilbert that can be tainted, whom possesses the same attitudes and persona as Jonathan – one who is as hot-headed as he, and one who is as easily tainted as he," his wife advised sagely, "you must act as watcher for now, it may be a decade it may be a century, you must wait and observe, you will know when the time is right."

Though the experience should have shaken him to his core somehow his wife's influence had been so calming and having her beside him to guide him had seemed sensible – why would she mislead him? They had only lived as lovers together, they had never argued or disputed – at least not seriously, and they trusted one another in implicitly, in life, and so he had carried that trust over into death. He had not even questioned her motives nor why she was effectively asking him to release evil into the world – because he had known that it would not be evil, or at least that if it were sinister would it be something that would do good through its evil. That had contented him.

He had bided his time travelling through his years watching, following the lives of the Gilbert Family as they prospered from the dissolution of the Johnson Family and the collapse of the Salvatore estate to something rather less impressive and far less majestic than before, he had traced the inexorable expansion of the Lockwood Family into the most dominant and powerful in Mystic Falls, he had pursued countless lone Vampires and Witches and Werewolves to their deaths; picking them off one by one and escaping each time by framing accident or by framing other supernaturals. He had inflamed petty rivalries in Washington between a clique of Vampires and a pack of Wolves, he had prompted an attack by a lone Witch upon a family of juvenile Wolves, he had even single-handedly murdered all but the youngest of a family of Witches, and led the youngest to blame it on an innocent group of Vampires attempting to live out their lives in peace. He had waited more than a century for his judgement and he was going to take every enjoyment from it.

"Morning Elena." He greeted crisply.

. . .

Bonnie swept through the house seeking for the object of her desire, she had ignored Katherine now and blocked her out, she had ignored Tyler's protests and Alaric's pensive glances, she had moved past them all and was now seeking urgently a mundane item – a hairbrush. She scanned the bedroom and finally spotted what she was looking for, crossing the threshold into Stefan's room and moving toward the beside table – the brush was definitely Elena's personal one, Bonnie had seen it in her bathroom numerous times, this room was not as badly torn up as downstairs, the bed sheets had been ripped and the pillows torn showering the room in feathers but otherwise the room looked normal. She picked the hairbrush and paused for a moment, looking to see if there were any clothing she could use and then relented, coming back down the stairs and walking into an icy atmosphere.

Tyler was stood by the window unwilling to face Katherine, there was a deep-rooted antipathy between Werewolves and Vampires in any case, it just happened that since Tyler had actually been turned into a Werewolf in order to be sacrificed that had intensified a mutual loathing between Katherine and Tyler, Bonnie had actually been surprised by Tyler's reserved disposition towards her – he had to keep his emotions under control most of the time anyway, but despite that need his anger towards Katherine was deep-rooted and she doubted whether he had ever really come to terms with the realities of his condition and the nature of his becoming a Werewolf.

"A locator spell?" Alaric quizzed, eyeing up the brush and following Bonnie's line of vision to the candles on the coffee table, as if to confirm his thoughts the candles flickered into life as she focused upon them and then she turned back to him nodding silently as she settled on her knees facing the candles, she looked up toward Katherine who was giving her a disbelieving look and then towards Tyler whose face was reservedly encouraging – not so much that he might jinx it, but enough to show that he had faith in her.

She begun the incantation, stretching out her feeling, she was so focused upon the spell that she could even factor in what was occurring around her, she felt the tell-tale whoosh of a Vampire moving at beyond human speed as Katherine left and returned, unfurling a map beside her, even as she focused on drawing out Elena from the hairs on the brush she positioned a marker over the map, matching her connection to her friend with a physical location on the map. She opened her eyes the spell complete and allowed her hand to hover the map before indicating the location over the point on the map and receiving a shrill laugh from Katherine that sounded like one born of irony. She cast a discerning glance over Katherine but as usual discovered little from the impassive expression the Vampire wore – Katherine was a master of guarding her emotions and her ideas, no-one except she knew her mind or her intentions – it was one of the things that made her so deadly.

"What's so funny?" Tyler asked agitatedly – though despite the fortitude and formidability in his voice he did not move any closer, not out of cowardice Bonnie suspected: few could call Tyler Lockwood a coward, especially not if they knew of the horror he went through at the Full Moon, rather it was out of a desire to not do something he would regret to Katherine. Though he was not fully transformed he was still stronger than average and more than a match for most Vampires, especially unsuspecting, overconfident ones.

"It's where it all began," she revealed tantalizingly, almost touching Bonnie's finger as she allowed hers to linger over the spot on the map, "a hundred and fifty years ago that piece of woodland belonged to the Johnson lot – in fact it was it the site of their old house, once they…_disappeared_," she said emphasizing that she was substituting it for something rather more gruesome, "the land was partititioned between the Gilbert's and the Lockwood's, though naturally the Lockwood Family took the majority of the land – they were in more of a position to dominate things." She shot a look at Tyler though he seemed singularly more impressed, Bonnie sent him a thankful glance – she understood just how much control it was taking him to not hit back at her.

"We have to get there," Bonnie decided affirmatively rising to her feet, "we have to get there now."

"Wait," Alaric said holding out an arm to stop her, "we need some intelligence – we need to actually know what we're walking into – I know none of us are particularly easy to work with Katherine or even to listen to her but she knows a hell of a lot more about this than we do, and right now we need all the information we need – Caroline wouldn't want either of you to senselessly kill yourselves in an attempt to stop Jeremy without knowing anything."

Katherine laughed again and Alaric glared at her.

"Oh quit the dirty looks Ric, she's not dead – I mean why else would I be _here_?"

. . .

Caroline had spent the past few days ingratiating herself with the right people and contemplating how best to proceed, she knew what was coming – as did Katherine, the Vampire roundup that had dominated Caroline's life in the past year as well as everyone else's…she had always wanted what it had been like awaiting that strike, how Katherine had felt understanding and knowing that she would escape the carnage, how she had so coldly and calculatingly betrayed everyone loyal to her. In a way it was infuriating that Caroline couldn't say anything but at the same time it was impossible, she couldn't alter history, that much was clear.

She hovered at the perimeter of the woodland surrounding the Johnson House, it was a three-story building, typically Georgian like the others with the Grecian columns framing a vast doorway and windows that blazed with golden light, beaming out into the crisp, deep, blue night. She crouched beside Emily as they surveyed it – she looked at the Witch who was wearing quite a steely expression, Emily had made clear that they needed to leave the House, knowing what was coming and that they needed to keep a certain distance from them. There was no way to know what triggered Jonathan's beast but in all likelihood it related to Vampires or other supernatural creatures – the only place they could corner him tonight was the Johnson House; he would have trusted no-one else to supervise the operation, he needed everyone of them dead.

The silence of the night was shattered by an ear-splitting scream as a girl in a dress broke from the back of the House, not even looking back towards it as she raced away – Olivia, Caroline reflected in her memory – one of the daughters from the Dinner Party, the youngest. Emily motioned and the two of them moved forward quite normally across the garden towards the doorway, they strolled up the porch and entered the House, lamps blazed illuminating the entire house which seemed to be in an eerie state of calm. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Caroline spotted the door to the cellar and could taste the blood on the air, she turned down the stairs and paused at the peak, already seeing the scene of carnage and backing away from it as they turned and then paused as they heard voices coming. They moved into the larger drawing room as a first guard appeared carrying a rifle, Caroline moved swiftly, snapping his neck and cutting of the scream in his throat effortlessly, moving onto his second at the same point.

Jonathan rounded the corner next and considered his two fallen guards and then looked to Emily disbelievingly and then at Caroline, her eyes turned black with fury and her face creased in anger, he staggered backward as though a great weight had slammed forward into him and then fell back to the ground and his body began contorting as though he were being leapt on and torn at by a great Cheetah, the beast tearing chunks of his body away from him as he convulsed and shrieked in horrific pain. Caroline calmed down as she watched him and then spotted it, his centre was glowing a deep amethyst colour which then moved from a lilac hue to a deep indigo and going gradually darker until it was gradually black. It then began expanding like a great net as Jonathan recovered and stood up, Caroline looked to Emily and at that point she flexed her hands out in front of her at arms-length as though she were holding a crystal ball between them, her fingers were rounded. The pendant attached to her neck lifted, straining to reach her hands as the darkness trailed away from Jonathan and funnelled into her pendant.

Caroline watched as shrieking rose between them until she spotted a crack in the jewel at the centre of Emily's pendant and then watched as the darkness streamed away from Jonathan and centred itself within the pendant, turning the item a black hue, as Jonathan slumped back unconscious and Emily turned to her looking pained though as though she had survived. The two woman sprinted away but Caroline turned and bent down toward the two felled soldiers, puncturing their necks and then leaving with Emily into the woods – she had to make it look as though this was the work of Vampires, if not there would be too many awkward questions to be asked later. She waited until they had reached the edge of the woods and then she turned to Emily but Emily motioned her to silence.

"I must get to Miss Pearl and the others," Emily confided calmly and with her breath completely with her as though she had not gone through such an ordeal, "you must return now and protect them there, you have done all that you can here." Caroline protested but as she said it she felt the words drowned out and torn away in a maelstrom as she was sucked into a storm as the world seemed to bend and contort around her as she was drawn back to her present, smashing face first into the ground outside Elena's house where she had been before.

. . .

Elena had been shocked awake but her reaction had been a small ripple compared to the shockwaves emanating from Damon and Stefan as they regarded their father, the same as the day they had parted the company, exactly the same as they remembered him from 1864 not older nor younger by a day, exactly as they had left him, or presumed they had. He had circled them several times after initially greeting Elena, bringing his sons back into consciousness with Lucy Bennett casting a discerning eye over them – ensuring that they did not try anything, not that Elena suspected an attempt at escape would succeed. Giuseppe Salvatore – she had somehow known who he was the moment she saw him, though neither of his sons bore a strong physical resemblance to him, beyond facial features like the cheekbones, she felt a deeper connection to him, through Stefan and she had noted from the reaction of his sons as much, even before they had exchanged a word.

Giuseppe regarded her again grasping at her face.

"I did not realize that Jonathan could have produced such perfection in his offspring," she shook away from his grasp and surprisingly for her at least he relented, "Elena? Must you react with such hostility toward me, someday I will be your father in law after all and besides you must forgive me for being so interested, you do bear a passing resemblance to the vile wench my sons were once infatuated with long ago."

"Can you just kill us already or get on with the show?" Damon demanded, clearly languishing at the mild yet still debilitating effect of the Vervain soaked bonds, for that he received a strike from Lucy, he let out a yell of anguish and Elena saw in her peripheral vision his arms strain against the bonds as though he were reaching for his forehead.

"You always were a little…hasty Damon," his father retorted disapprovingly, "bring forth the girl." Out of the darkness a blonde girl was ushered forward, her eyes wide with fear and fighting against seemingly invisible bonds as Giuseppe drew her close to him, he put a hand to her cheek and stroked at it reassuringly.

"You are a Witch my dear, I assure you this will be quite painless." Another figure joined them now and Elena fought not to gawp as Jeremy stepped toward them, though he was manifestly different, his eyes were black with tiny little red dots at their centres, glowing brightly, his face creased like Stefan or Damon once they had tasted blood, he was grinning maliciously as he closed to the girl and leaned in, pecking her tenderly on the lips before increasing the passion but the girl broke away after this, the bonds seemingly gone. Her howl was horrific and Elena suddenly found herself actually crying at the shock as the girl collapsed before them, clutching at her head as she yelled wildly and hysterically before falling to the floor, dead, Elena watched as a darkness spread through her body, visible in the veins on her arms as it raced to her fingertips and finally was allowed to go to peace. "I am sorry that I had to lie to her but at least you three will know the truth – make no mistake you are here to die, and no matter what interference there may have been there shall be justice served now."

. . .

Hope you liked Chapter 8,

9 up soon,

Reviews welcome and really appreciated!

Acrobat

X


	9. Chapter 9

**The Vampire Diaries**

"I don't know – maybe because you're working with whoever kidnapped them?" Tyler asked, squaring up to Katherine, to a normal person the scene of a clearly stronger male threatening an obviously weaker female would have seemed weird, but to them it seemed as though they were equals, perhaps even one of them was stronger – likely Katherine since Tyler was at least two weeks of the moon when his powers reached their pinnacle, regardless the two were almost snarling at one another as they glared into each other's eyes.

"Guys just calm down," Alaric said, stepping in between them, feeling only mildly nervous to be between two supernaturals that could cleanly rip his head from his shoulders at any moment, "Tyler back off," Alaric semi-ordered and reluctantly the teenage werewolf ordered, he didn't make the same order to Katherine though – pensive about how she might react, she simply grinned at him in a smile that was both seductive and at the same time deadly, "what do you mean she isn't dead?"

"She means I'm still alive," Caroline said, crossing into the House, looking tired and yet somehow so fresh and full of life, Bonnie was the first across the room hurtling to hug her, she then detached and Tyler hugged her, leaning in to kiss her but being deflected to her cheek – an awkward brush off – as she crossed the centre of the room to regard Katherine, "do you…do you remember-"

"-everything?" Katherine completed, "Perfectly," she reassured confidently, "do you know how to complete it?"

She nodded, "It needs a Vampire to trigger it – we need a Talisman to capture the spirit once the transition has begun," she recollected, thinking back to what she had witnessed with Emily by her side, "where's Elena and Stefan and Damon?" Caroline asked, finally twigging after her elation at being returned home and pensiveness that she was too late, that the house looked as though a twister had ripped through the house, tearing apart furniture and ripping shelves from the walls, scattering the house in debris.

"They're gone," Katherine said, bringing her up to speed, "Bonnie go and find one of Elena's hairbrushes." Bonnie nodded, instantly understanding the implication that Katherine wanted her to perform a location spell, Bonnie sprinted up the stairs as Katherine crossed the room, bending beside one of the bookcases and collecting a map from it, putting it on the table and unfurling it, placing a candle at three of the corners, leaving the one with the compass in it devoid of a candle. The candles flickered into life on their own as Bonnie sprinted down the stairs with the hairbrush in her hand. She knelt beside the table as the others watched on. Bonnie paused momentarily to ponder over the talisman and then drew the necessary conclusion – she would have to use a Stewart Talisman – she had none of her own and she was almost certain that if Lucy were there she would have taken one or all of the Johnson talismans, she shivered at the thought of the death of the three Stuart witches. Katherine and Alaric crossed to observe Bonnie as she began murmuring the incantation under her breath, Caroline crossed the room to stand beside Tyler who had turned away to look out the window – standing guard somehow.

He looked at her and half-smiled.

"I thought you were gone."

She shook her head, "Just for a little while," she turned to look at him, staring into his deep mahogany-coloured eyes, "I was always coming back," she paused to consider how best to confront the issue and then found herself unable to phrase it differently, "I thought we understood each other…about how we felt about one another?"

"We do," Tyler replied, jerking his head away from her eye-line looking out towards the edge of the wood, he turned to look at her and then sighed, "it was just a kiss on the cheek Caroline."

"But you didn't want it to be that did you?" Caroline asked, he rolled his eyes, "Tyler look…you know that I really like you…just as friends ok? I still don't know where I stand with Matt and until I do I can't just start seeing you…I wouldn't be being fair to myself…I have to…I have to know whether I have a shot with him okay?" Tyler didn't reply, walking away from her to stand with the others as Bonnie's eyes opened and she placed her finger on a spot of relatively dense woodland, a few miles from the Lockwood House that he had called home for ages. Katherine seemed to do a double take as she located it, Caroline crossed the room – mildly alarmed at Katherine's reaction, deducing that if the elder Vampire was concerned then she had a right to be even more concerned.

"What's wrong?" Alaric probed, his face creasing in puzzlement as he tried to discern what was so significant about the patch of woodland.

"In 1864 that plot of land-" Katherine started.

"-was the Johnson House." Caroline completed, realising that the ritual to release the beast must have something to do with that site since that was where Emily Bennett had originally harmed it more than a century ago.

Katherine nodded.

"What are we waiting for?" Tyler questioned grimly and none of them raised objections.

They sprinted as one for the door but Katherine found herself slowing as she spotted a figure in the corner of her eye, she paused and swivelled round and froze as Isobel walked toward her, her old friend smiling at her reassuringly, like a mentor to a disciple – curious since Katherine was far older than Isobel and if anything their relationship had been one of equals – albeit a modicum of seniority afforded to Katherine since she was the one in the lead of their plans; most of the time.

"Racing off to save Elena – who would have guessed?" Isobel joked flatly.

"What do you want?" Katherine enquired, "Why do you keep appearing?"

"Because this ritual is breaking down the barriers to the Spirit World Katherine, it doesn't just cast your world into darkness it turns ours into darkness too – we're becoming close to being fully able to physically manifest ourselves here, it means the return of such great evil to this world that you can't even begin to comprehend," Isobel revealed, "if that happens so many will die – too many. You only got one chance at this Katherine, and if you fail, we lose everything."

Katherine blocked out the apocalyptic ramblings – they neither interested her nor even entertained her with their ridiculousness, she darted for the door after the others – Isobel's warnings would not effect her, they could do this and they would have to, if the beast really was released it would be far more deadly than Klaus had ever been – than anything she had ever seen had ever been, and she couldn't allow that to happen.

. . .

"My boy, come forward," Giuseppe declared warmly, clapping him on the shoulder as though they were father and son, as though it were the most calm, normal and domestic of situations, he spun Jeremy around in the darkness of the cellar. Elena caught a glimpse of Jeremy's ever-increasing lack of pigment in his skin, he was turning as white as a sheet as colour continued almost by the second to drain from his face, "a first test to see how far you have progressed by boy," he nodded almost imperceptibly in the darkness and Lucy Bennett arrived, tapping a being in the darkness who suddenly stirred, as his locks were unbound and he was let loose from the wall, Elena couldn't help but gasp as she caught site of Matt, badly bruised, presumably from the struggle that had brought him to the cellar that night, stagger forward reluctantly, swaying as though he might fall over at any moment. With her eyes she tried to send a message to him of strength and support, she was almost sure she saw him register in it his eyes as they darted to Jeremy, "drink from him, and then kill him for us."

Jeremy nodded stepping toward Matt. The taller blonde boy looked down at Elena's brother and tried to step away but found himself rooted to the spot – not by fear but by another force, he tried to lean away as Jeremy leaned into his neck, he felt the cool-breath as Jeremy smelt at him and then felt the incision as the fangs gouged into his neck and then he felt as the process of draining the blood from him began, he could feel some dribble down his neck – though not much, Jeremy had clearly become proficient at cleaning up after himself. He could see Elena looking at him, her eyes full of fear – for her brother but also somewhere deeper for_ himself_, he knew that death was coming, he knew that once Jeremy took his teeth from his neck then the process would not be far off. Jeremy pulled away to demonstrate to his master that had had completely the first stage.

"Now kill the human, prove that you have shaken off the shackles of the light." Giuseppe intoned, watching the other guests, his voice devoid of any praise, his tone echoing a drill-sergeant, unforgiving and unrewarding, even in success.

"Don't," Elena cried out, against the advice of her prevailing fear, "don't do it Jer – just step away from Matt, you don't need to do this - you don't need to kill him."

"Do you agree Jeremy – you will often find humans colluding with Vampires, they are just as culpable as the monsters too – you must use the tools of the Vampire against their human companions, it is only justice Jeremy, remember that." Reassured by Giuseppe, Jeremy leaned in close to Matt and began draining Matt of his blood once more, drawing it out from the same spot before drawing back from him and striking him at the neck, causing him to fall limp and drop to the ground in a pit of blood, motionless. "Impressive," Giuseppe praised, "you are almost ready – take from the Vampires now – my pitiful excuses for sons."

Jeremy stepped away from Matt and moved first to Damon who instinctively leaned away from him, aware of how close Jeremy was coming to his neck and then squirmed as he felt Jeremy lick it his neck, choosing the point of incision before he made the incision, tearing away parts of Damon's skin to suck out the blood of the Vampire – not that it would have made much of a difference to Damon, he was already dead – losing blood was of little consequence, he knew that something much worse was coming for him. Jeremy lifted his head away, contented with his taste of Damon's blood.

"You know Jeremy," Damon called out, somehow emboldened by the perilous situation of their lives, "you might think you can roll with the big league but you'll never be as strong as me or Stefan or Caroline or Tyler or Bonnie or even Elena – you're puny and human and someday you will have your downfall, it might not be today, it might not be tomorrow but at some point there will be a reckoning Jeremy, and at that point you'll regret you ever committed yourself to working with him – because he will betray you. At some point you'll become more powerful than him and you'll realize you're being manipulated." The taunt clearly hadn't affected him in the slightest as he moved across to Stefan, not wasting time on choosing a point before biting into the right side of Stefan's neck while standing beside him.

Giuseppe let out a sadistic laugh as he watched his younger son writhe under Jeremy's intrusions, "You are smart Damon, cleverer than most to think of actually taunting someone more powerful than you into rage but it has failed, he is now under my command, to dispatch this world of you and any other sadistic creatures like you," Jeremy moved in close and grabbed his son tightly by the chin moving his face close to Damon's staring directly into his eyes, "I shall explain how this is going to occur, once he has taken the blood, Lucy will begin a spell, it will kill you both and he will complete his process by killing Elena, all three of you will die and you will have released the most fearsome beast that this world has ever known."

"Is this what mother would've wanted?" Stefan asked as Jeremy completed his tasting of Stefan's blood, "For you to become like the monsters you despised for so long."

"Your mother does not come into this," Giuseppe shot-down, immediately ruling out further discussion of the matriarch of their family, he did not want to revisit the loss of his wife, nor the man he had become in the aftermath of her death, "Lucy perform the spell," the Witch nodded, Jeremy stepped forward pre-emptively, "stand beside your sister."

Lucy began muttering things under her breath and Damon felt as though a great weight were being pressed against his abdomen as he watched the Witch's eyes grow a bright amber-colour and her hair begin to twirl in swirls upward, empowered by the spell as its magic flowed through her, he shut his eyes, bracing himself for the end as his pain rose to almost unbearable levels forcing him to yell out in pain. His body was erupting in pain, as though a thousand separate stakes were being driven into his body as he remained rooted to that spot on the chair, bracing again his Vervain bonds as he attempted to liberate himself from the hellish nightmare he had become entangled in. He struggled against his bonds before relenting back against the rising pain, scrunching up his eyes against the inevitable as some kind of feeble last gesture of protection, as though like a child he thought closing his eyes would make everything go away.

His eyes flew open as he felt one of the invisible stakes retract and then more as he felt strength returning to him from his weakness, though he remained constrained by the Vervain bonds which burned painfully against his skin, gouging deep wounds into it – somehow tightening each time he strengthened against them. He could see why – Lucy was distracted, she remained in that strange almost mesmerising state of having her eyes glowing majestically, her hair flowing around her head but her previously impassive face was contorting into one of aggression and violence, the distraction owed to Bonnie who was standing adjacent to Lucy, duelling her – though she was not alone, he made out the forms of Sheila and Emily Bennett either side of Bonnie, the three Witches closing their eyes to focus single-mindedly on their task. Lucy may have been powerful but she was not strong enough to complete both the spell and tackle the three Witches, Damon cast his eyes toward Jeremy and could see the transition was beginning, darkness was beginning to pulse outward from Jeremy's chest – the question remained whether Lucy would be killed by her exertion before completing the process or whether she would die before they reached the point of no return.

He lost track at that point as he felt two hands – large and ungainly ones struggle with his bonds, ripping them cleanly away and he turned to spot Tyler crouched behind him, he motioned for them to stalk away from the chairs, Elena and Stefan were already moving across the room, Damon paused to regard the process and instantly regretted it as he heard Lucy scream in an anguished way, as though she was dying the most painful death of all and then felt the wave of energy radiate out from her before it hit them. He flew…or fell…he wasn't entirely sure for what seemed like hours though was only seconds, sailing through the sky until he came down to the ground with a thud, his fixed his eyes open attempting to comfort himself in his surroundings and spotted to his left a motionless body, the head was not moving and the envious blonde curls were mixed with specs of dirt – Caroline he thought motionlessly he reached out for her hand and felt it clutch at his as she dragged him toward her, he realized why a second later as a piece of cellar smashed into the ground where he had been lying. He lifted his eyes to hers and followed her line of sight to the centre of the field.

Bonnie, Emily and Sheila were circling Jeremy, focusing their powers inward upon him, spells of each colour of the spectrum past between the three Witches, gradually blurring into an amethyst bubble that seemed to expand to contain Jeremy, occasional dark flashes punctuating the otherwise radiant violet light pulsating around the spot where Jeremy was stood. Damon breathed a sigh of relief – they had things back in control.

. . .

Bonnie dug her heels in to a spot in the ground as her Grams and Emily mirrored, focusing their individual powers upon the central containment sphere, she felt the talisman rapped around her neck tug away from her: the one that had belonged to Daphne, it was still bloodied from when Jeremy had killed her and it had still been warm from her body when she had taken it from the lifeless corpse in the cellar. She did not dwell upon the events in that cellar nor those that must have happened in 1864, she had to remain rooted in the here or now or risking losing control of the spell. It was then that she felt the tremor in the sphere and bit her lip.

She called out, "Did you feel that?"

"Focus," Emily replied though Bonnie had lost sight of her as the dust from the explosion enveloped them, "continue to draw on the talisman Bonnie we are almost at the point of having divided the beast from Jeremy, we must only continue this slightly longer and all will be well again." Bonnie felt the underlying tremor once more and then spotted the darkness expanding from the base of the sphere, the amethyst light began to be extinguished as the darkness raised to cover the entire extent of the sphere and then she instantly felt the warning rising within her.

"Run," Bonnie yelled to the other two, "run now." She turned and sprinted but the first quake hit her before she made it three yards from the sphere, she stumbled forward, smashing into the ground and then was knocked further, tumbling through the sky by the second and third waves, successive ones battered and bruised her as she fell further away from the epicentre of the ritual. All was lost, Jeremy was turning into the beast. She lifted her sight and spotted Jeremy in the final stages of the transition, his young, toned body was bulking now as he changed, his shoulders broadened massively, matched by the rest of his body as his face contorted and became crowned by a ring of horns, his eyes glowing a venomous green, his irises remaining the same blood-red scarlet. He roared, ripping through the chaos and silencing everything else. He bent down to the ground and Bonnie felt a scream rising in her throat as she saw him lift Tyler by the scruff of his neck, the struggling lycanthrope's body silhouetted against the moonlight. Then she heard the first shot ring out as the Beast stumbled backward, clutching at its chest and dropping Tyler to the floor in the confusion. The second and third shots rang out in the night and Bonnie turned, framed against the lunar backdrop was new a figure, dressed in a hooded white robe, stalking across the field in possession of a bow and arrow. She dropped her hood and Bonnie looked away as a blinding light filled the night. She heard the beast scream out in anguish and then turned to see the hooded figure fire a single bow toward the beast. Light began to shatter through the beast's body at all angles as the form shattered into shards and melted away into the night, leaving Jeremy's limp, battered body at the ground.

Bonnie found herself sprinting without regard to herself or concern for any of the others – sprinting across the uneven ground toward Jeremy and ignored the hooded woman dropping to be by the side of her boyfriend, she stroked his face and cupped it in her hands, willing him to open his eyes and come back to them, willing him to have been unaffected by the ordeal, willing him to be the Jeremy that she had and still loved, to be the Jeremy that they all wanted him to be. He stirred mildly and she saw his un-bruised eye open weakly and saw a smirk, she fell onto him, wrapping him up in a hug. She then turned to the other figure, staring into her eye.

"Who are-", her question was drowned out by an anguished yell from the woods.

The hooded figure sprinted in the direction of the yell and Bonnie paused beside Jeremy, supporting his head in her lap as the others gradually ventured forward to where Jeremy had fallen, Elena dropping to the floor in tears beside him, Damon standing curiously adrift from them, standing guard – Bonnie lifted her head to look for Stefan, Caroline and Tyler and then gasped as she saw Stefan striding across, Tyler's unconscious body strung across him in his arms, Caroline striding beside him, in tears but holding back her hysterical cries. Stefan dropped beside Bonnie and laid Tyler beside Jeremy, Bonnie looked at the wounds, there was a huge gash across his chest from his left shoulder down to his right hip, bleeding profusely, not to mention the numerous smaller cuts and gashes criss-crossing his arms and legs. Bonnie moved to say something but Caroline pre-empted, shaking her head mournfully.

She sensed Damon stiffen as the white Hooded Figure returned, in the company of Katherine who was covered in blood – presumably that didn't belong to her, the Figure did not say anything, dropping beside Tyler and moving her hands across him, a faint light glowing at her fingertips across as she passed them across him. Bonnie felt tears of joy unprompted fall from her eyes and then felt her jerked away, as though she was looking down at herself and the others clustered on the floor from above somehow. She turned around and found herself in woodland, though this was off a different type. Her Grams was there, stood with Emily and a newer edition – Lucy stepped out from behind a tree striding toward them.

Suddenly the tears had changed from joy to sadness though Bonnie couldn't immediately establish why – somehow she had come to a foolish understanding that her Grams was back now and had returned to her life, she hadn't factored in that someday she might have to bid farewell to her again after losing her again.

"You're a strong girl Bonnie," Emily encouraged unexpectedly before Sheila spoke a word, "I am proud to know that you have continued our family name with the same courage and honour of countless other Bennett's through the ages," she cast her few down to the ground and then fixed Bonnie with a warm stare, "your friends will be fine – you will get through this." Sheila Bennett rose and wrapped an arm around her granddaughter's shoulder, leading her away deeper into the forest that she had conjured up as a more informal setting for them, a positive reflection of the darkness of the woods below them. She paused just beyond the clearing where they had met one another.

"This is the last time you will see me Bonnie," she promised, "but that does not mean that you can't always reach me – I live on through the Grimoire's and through the things that I left you in my will – and you will need them Bonnie, in the coming future you will need them."

. . .

She stepped away from the young lycanthrope and watched life return to him as she reflected upon the completion of her life's work, she turned to leave and felt an arm on her shoulder and swivelled round – recognizing it as belonging to Damon Salvatore, she had not particularly liked him when she had known him before, more than a century had not changed things. Katherine too remained a cold-hearted killer, she had found Katherine fighting or rather murdering Giuseppe Salvatore in the woods – his powers had been compromised the moment that Jeremy had transformed fully into the beast. Damon looked into her eyes and she watched the recognition pass across them.

"You're Olivia," he said, obviously taking in her youthful looks, "how are you here?"

"It is not of your concern, simply be content that everything has settled." She stepped away and felt her youth draining from her, felt her life force ebbing away and willed herself to the death that she had desired for so long. She allowed the embrace of death to fulfil her and then she was gone, her duty as the Angel to the Beast completed, her life's work realized and the status quo resumed.

Damon watched her go and turned to the others, spotting Alaric returning from the woods, carrying with him a partially broken pocket watch, he tossed it to Damon who stowed it in his pocket. He looked around at them all. The nightmare was over and they had all emerged from it unscathed.

. . .

One never realizes quite how good it feels to be clean after such an extended period of darkness, one never realizes how good it feels to not only mentally but also physically cleanse one self, the change that it marks as one progresses from the point they were at before to the new height that will form the catalyst for one's future.

Jeremy stepped out of the shower and flopped onto his bed, feeling possibly the best he had ever felt, though he reflected that probably owed something to how atrocious his past few days had been, the comparison was unfair. He checked his phone and smiled at a text from Bonnie, somehow he knew that she would be even more protective of him now than she had ever been before. He walked back into the bathroom and put his phone on the side and looked up, and froze. He turned round and felt an arm shoved roughly into his mouth and by natural reaction swallowed as a cold, musky liquid dripped into his mouth and then felt a yell build in his mouth that was drowned out as his neck was snapped cleanly and he dropped to the floor, dead.

"It's so good to be back." Snarled Klaus triumphantly, he moved into Jeremy's bedroom, dropped the card thoughtfully on Jeremy's bed, complete with ring and then lifted the window, slipping out into the night like a phantom.

. . .

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 9,

Thank you for staying with me through the whole story,

Reviews appreciated,

Acrobat

X

And if you didn't guess this is a _to be continued in the style of TVD_.


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